Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/96

 Around this time, according to his testimony, Lt. Col. Vindman "was getting questions from Ukrainians about the status of the hold on security assistance." By August 28, after Politico "first reported that President Trump had implemented a hold on nearly $400 million of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine that had been appropriated by Congress," Ukrainian officials "expressed alarm to their American counterparts." Ambassador Taylor states that the Ukrainians were "just desperate" to receive the assistance, and that "American officials could provide little reassurance."

On September 1, Ambassador Sondland stated to President Zelensky's aide, Mr. Yermak, that "the resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine took some kind of action on the public statement that we had been discussing for many weeks." National Security Council senior director Timothy Morrison also testified that he recalled this interaction. According to Mr. Morrison, he saw Ambassador Sondland and Mr. Yermak have a private conversation and, immediately after their conversation ended, Ambassador Sondland walked over to Mr. Morrison and reported that he had communicated to Mr. Yermak that a statement about the investigations was needed "to obtain release of the aid." That same day, Ambassador Taylor texted Ambassador Sondland: "Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?" Ambassador Sondland then confirmed to Ambassador Taylor over the phone that President Trump wanted President Zelensky "in a public box," making a "public statement" about the investigations that President Trump had requested on July 25. Ambassador Sondland agreed that the United States position was that if President Zelensky did not announce those investigations, Ukraine was not "going to get" the assistance.

On September 5, the Washington Post published an editorial exposing President Trump's scheme, entitled "Trump Tries to Force Ukraine to Meddle in the 2020 Election." Two days later, on September 7, Ambassador Sondland called Mr. Morrison to report on a call he had just concluded with President Trump. Ambassador Sondland told Mr. Morrison that "there was no quid pro quo, but President Zelensky must announce the opening of the investigations and he should want to do it." The following day, on September 8, Ambassador Sondland conveyed via text message to Ambassadors Volker and Taylor, too, that he had spoken with President Trump: "Guys multiple convos with Ze, Potus. Lets talk." On the phone with Ambassador Taylor, Ambassador Sondland then "confirmed