Donald Trump Calls Ukraine A ‘Corrupt Country’ Full Of ‘Terrible People,’ Former Envoy Kurt Volker Testifies
Donald Trump reportedly believes that Ukraine is a “corrupt country” full of “terrible people” that “tried to take me down,” according to closed door testimony to Congress on Thursday by Trump’s former special envoy to that country, Kurt Volker. The former envoy, who resigned his post last week, made the revelations in the prepared opening statement to his testimony. Though most of his testimony remains confidential, Volker’s opening remarks were obtained by multiple media outlets and posted on the document archiving site Scribd.
In the statement, Volker stated that Trump’s “deep rooted negative view” of Ukraine was fed to him by “other sources,” primarily his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. In a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 2, Volker said he tried to explain that Giuliani’s “negative view” of Ukraine was “based on assertions of actions that happened in 2016.” Giuliani’s negative views were making their way to Trump, Volker said he told Zelensky.
Volker’s reference to “assertions” of actions that took place in 2016 appears to be a reference to Giuliani and Trump’s adherence to an internet conspiracy theory that, as The Inquisitr reported, Russia did not interfere in the 2016 presidential election but was instead framed by Ukraine, which acted in a conspiracy with Democrats.
Volker also handed over a batch of text messages among himself, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, and the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland — a former CEO of the Provenance Hotels chain who donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee, according to a profile by The Washington Post.
In the texts, released Thursday night by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Taylor asks Sondland if Trump was refusing to invite Zelensky to the White House unless Zelensky agreed to carry out “investigations” that Trump has demanded.
Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate the conspiracy theory that Ukraine framed Russia for the 2016 election sabotage, as well as carry out an investigation into allegations — which Trump apparently also believes — that Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden engaged in some kind of “corruption” in Ukraine.
In his testimony, Volker flatly denied that he was “aware of” or “took part in” Trump’s efforts to force Ukraine to investigate Biden by withholding military aid from Ukraine — a country for which Trump had expressed contempt.
Trump reportedly asked Zelensky to investigate Biden during a July 25 phone call between the two, but Giuliani and Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to exonerate Russia in the 2016 election attack began at least two years ago, according to an investigation by veteran journalist Murray Waas, reported by The Inquisitr.
