Diplomat: Bolton Warned Him About Giuliani and Ukraine Read Newsmax: Diplomat: Bolton Cautioned Him about Giuliani and Ukraine | Newsmax.com
Rudy Giuliani,State Department,Impeachment,Ukraine,National Security,Defense And Security
A State Department foreign service officer will tell House impeachment investigators Wednesday former national security adviser John Bolton cautioned him that Rudy Giuliani "was a key voice with the president on Ukraine," which could complicate U.S. goals in the Eastern European country.
The testimony from Christopher Anderson makes clear that administration officials were concerned about Giuliani's back-channel involvement in Ukraine policy, and his push for investigations of Democrats, even before the July 25 phone call between President Donald Trump and his Ukraine counterpart at the center of the House impeachment inquiry.
Anderson will describe a June meeting in which he said Bolton expressed support for the administration's goals of strengthening energy cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine and getting new Ukraine leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to undertake anti-corruption reforms.
"However, he cautioned that Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the president on Ukraine which could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement," Anderson will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. Giuliani is Trump's personal lawyer.
Another foreign service officer set to testify Wednesday, Catherine Croft, will say that during her time at the National Security Council, she received multiple phone calls from lobbyist Robert Livingston telling her that the-then ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, should be fired.
"He characterized Ambassador Yovanovitch as an "Obama holdover" and associated with George Soros. It was not clear to me at the time_or now_at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch," she will say.
Their testimony follows that of Alexander Vindman, an Army officer with the National Security Council who testified that he twice raised concerns over the administration's push to have Ukraine investigate Democrats and Joe Biden.
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