A top Pence aide was greatly concerned by what she heard during the phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Jennifer Williams, special adviser to the vice president for Europe and Russia, listened in on the July 25 call which formed the central part of the intelligence community whistleblower complaint that sparked the Democrat-led impeachment investigation into allegations of abuse of power by Trump in Ukraine. The House Intelligence Committee released the transcript from her Nov. 7 closed-door testimony on Saturday.
“I would say that it struck me as unusual and inappropriate,” Williams told the committee.
In the call, immediately after Zelensky expressed interest in purchasing anti-tank weaponry, known as Javelins, from the United States, Trump asked Zelensky “to do us a favor though” and to look into CrowdStrike and any possible Ukrainian election interference in 2016. The president also urged Zelensky to investigate “the other thing,” referring to allegations of corruption related to Joe and Hunter Biden stemming from the younger Biden’s lucrative position on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company. Trump told Zelensky to speak with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr.
“I believe I found the specific references to be more specific to the President in nature, to his personal political agenda, as opposed to … a broader foreign policy objective of the United States,” Williams testified. “I guess, for me, it shed some light on possible other motivations behind a security assistance hold.”
In her 166-page testimony, Williams also said her handwritten notes of the July 25 call included a specific reference to “Burisma,” first telling the committee she believed it was Trump who named the company but then updating her testimony to say it was actually Zelensky who named the company during the call first. Burisma’s specific name, however, does not appear in the White House transcript, which references only “the company.”
Williams testified she learned of the hold on congressionally authorized U.S. military assistance to Ukraine on July 3 but wasn’t told why. She also said she flagged news reports for Pence in late May 2019 related to Giuliani’s monthslong efforts to get the Ukrainians to carry out specific investigations.
“I believe they related to the 2016 election, and what role, if any, Ukraine may have played in that, as well as looking into the situation with former Vice President Biden’s son and Burisma,” Williams said.
Williams told the committee it was her understanding Trump changed his mind on whether he wanted Pence to attend the May 20 inauguration ceremony for the newly elected Zelensky, with the president first telling Pence he’d like him to attend after Trump’s first call with Zelensky on April 21 but asked Pence not to go in mid-May.
Williams will testify in public Tuesday. The release of the testimony from Williams on Saturday coincided with the release of the closed-door deposition of Timothy Morrison, who will also testify publicly Tuesday.
This week, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, Chargé d’Affaires for Ukraine William Taylor, and fired Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified in the first public impeachment hearings.
Next week, the National Security Council’s Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs Laura Cooper, undersecretary of state for political affairs David Hale, and the National Security Council’s former senior director for Europe and Russia Fiona Hill will all publicly testify.
