A spokesman for the McCain Institute for International Leadership pushed back on reports that Kurt Volker, the former State Department special envoy to Ukraine, plans to step down from leading the group after revelations that President Trump urged Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden.
“Not happening today nor is it a given,” senior director of communications Luke Knittig told the Washington Examiner.
The New York Times reported that Volker would resign as executive director of the Washington-based research group on Friday. The report said the group’s leadership pressured Volker to step down for not being as forthcoming about his dual roles as they had wished.
A source told CNN that the institute’s leadership stood behind Volker until text messages were released that showed he was more involved in the Ukraine scandal than he led on.
Volker did not respond to a text message requesting comment from the Washington Examiner. His voicemail was full Friday afternoon. The McCain Institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Volker said in testimony to congressional investigators on Thursday that he was not aware of Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to launch an investigation into his political rival and was not on the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that led to an impeachment inquiry.
Text messages released by House Democrats late Thursday showed Volker telling top Zelensky adviser Andriy Yermak that a Zelensky visit to Washington was conditional. The message was sent the morning of the July 25 conversation between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart.
“Good lunch — thanks. Heard from White House — assuming President Z convinces Trump he will investigate / ‘get to the bottom of what happened’ in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington. Good luck! See you tomorrow — Kurt,” Volker wrote.
UPDATE: Volker resigned from his role at the McCain Institute on Monday, citing media scrutiny.
