Thread by @kenvogel

Important point from @RepAdamSchiff — the push by Trump & Giuliani to get Ukraine to commit to investigations was not necessarily about the investigations themselves, but more about putting the Ukrainians into “a public box,” as Schiff put it.

@RepAdamSchiff The public announcement by the Ukrainians of the investigations sought by TRUMP & GIULIANI into the BIDENS, etc., would have political value, independent of the results of any such investigation.

@RepAdamSchiff .@DevinNunes complained that Dems blocked the GOP from calling ppl who could speak to HUNTER BIDEN’s work for Burisma.

But GEORGE KENT flagged concerns about how Biden’s position "could create the perception of a conflict of interest" w/ @JoeBiden's work. nytimes.com/2019/11/10/us/…

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden "Let me be clear…I did not witness any efforts by any US official to shield Burisma from scrutiny. In fact, I & other US officials…advocated reinstituting a scuttled investigation of…Burisma’s founder, as well as holding the corrupt prosecutors who closed the case to account."

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden TAYLOR touches on what will surely be a key point for Republicans, saying that as far as he knew, the Ukrainians were not aware of the hold on military assistance until August 29 — more than a month after the July 25 phone call.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden Republicans have argued that TRUMP could not have been articulating a quid pro quo in the 7/25 phone call related to the assistance if the Ukrainians were not aware that the assistance was being withheld.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden BUT: we revealed that top Ukrainian officials had become aware of the delay by early August — weeks before the delay was made public: nytimes.com/2019/10/23/us/… So the question of when the Ukrainians became aware of the assistance delay remains an open — & key — one.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden Important point from TAYLOR: A White House meeting could be symbolically useful for ZELENSKY, but, when it comes to security assistance, lives are literally at stake.

As Taylor put it: “The @WhiteHouse meeting was one thing. The security assistance was much more alarming.”

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse TAYLOR says that the Ukrainians “preparing to make a public statement” in a planned @CNN interview in which ZELENSKY would commit to investigations sought by TRUMP.

The Ukrainians were ready to do this, as @AndrewKramerNYT reported, in this must-read:
nytimes.com/2019/11/07/wor…

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT Backstory on the concerns expressed by TRUMP about Ukraine on 5/23: US officials had just returned from Zelensky's inauguration, & urged @POTUS to support the new Ukrainian government.

Trump's response: “They’re all corrupt & they tried to take me down.” nytimes.com/2019/09/20/us/…

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS Maybe a small victory for Republicans: GEORGE KENT testifies that Ukrainian prosecutors “should” investigate the oligarch owner of BURISMA for possibly paying a bribe to kill an investigation.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS GEORGE KENT praises Zelensky's prosecutors as a departure from the corruption of Ukrainian prosecutors.

But the US felt similarly about LUTSENKO, who @JoeBiden called “solid at the time.”

*Lutsenko later worked with @RudyGiuliani to push investigations into the BIDENS and 2016.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS @RudyGiuliani GEORGE KENT makes the point that the alleged self-dealing by Burisma Holding’s oligarch owner Zlochevsky occurred more than a year before HUNTER BIDEN joined the board of Burisma.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS @RudyGiuliani PUNCHY LINE FROM @jahimes: “I don’t think President TRUMP was trying to end corruption in Ukraine. I think he was trying aim corruption in Ukraine at Vice President @JoeBiden & at the 2020 election."

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS @RudyGiuliani @jahimes Republicans are hammering the point that Trump has provided more military assistance — particularly Javelin missiles — to Ukraine than Obama.

This is accurate.

In fact, as VP, @JoeBiden repeatedly urged @BarackObama to ship Javelins to Kiev.

Obama rejected the idea.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS @RudyGiuliani @jahimes @BarackObama ANDRIY YERMAK, the close Zelensky aide who was dispatched to meet with RUDY GIULIANI, “expressed concern” about his meetings & phone calls with @RudyGiuliani, BILL TAYLOR testified.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS @RudyGiuliani @jahimes @BarackObama RUDY GIULIANI pressed ANDRIY YERMAK, a top Zelensky aide, to pursue the investigations, & also discussed the prospect of a Zelensky-Trump WH mtg, as we scooped in August.

Yermak did not know whether Giuliani was acting as an official Trump representative nytimes.com/2019/08/21/us/…

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS @RudyGiuliani @jahimes @BarackObama BIG PICTURE POINT: When TRUMP pushes foreign gov'ts to investigate his political rivals, “it makes it more difficult” for the US to discourage foreign leaders from prosecuting their rivals (a common problem around the world), GEORGE KENT testifies under @DennyHeck's questioning.

@RepAdamSchiff @DevinNunes @JoeBiden @WhiteHouse @CNN @AndrewKramerNYT @POTUS @RudyGiuliani @jahimes @BarackObama @DennyHeck HMMM: BILL TAYLOR says he cannot rule out the possibility that there are other countries in which Trump's team is pursuing “irregular channels” of diplomacy. But he also notes “I have not heard of any other separate channels” that have leveraged “the Giuliani kind of guidance.”