Text messages provided by the former special envoy to Ukraine show administration officials indicating that a meeting between the Ukrainian leader and President Trump was contingent on investigations requested by the U.S.
Following Kurt Volker’s nearly 10-hour deposition behind closed doors on Thursday, a trio of House committees released a batch of text messages submitted as part of his congressional testimony.
The text messages show that top U.S. diplomats worked to carry out Trump’s desire for the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden.
Biden as vice president had pushed for Ukraine to oust its then-prosecutor general for failing to properly investigate corruption. The prosecutor general had at one point looked into Burisma, the energy company where Hunter Biden served on the board. There is no evidence either Biden engaged in wrongdoing.
The text exchanges involve Volker, top Ukrainian embassy official William Taylor, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Andrey Yermak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Volker served as the Ukraine envoy until he resigned last week.
