Two of Donald Trump's top envoys to Ukraine drafted a statement in August for the country’s newly elected leader that would have bound the country to investigating Trump's chief political rivals, according to the New York Times. The statement—penned by ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker—came after the July 25 phone call in which Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens and issues related to the 2016 elections. In addition, both Rudy Giuliani and a top aide to Zelensky knew about the statement, which was an effort by the diplomats to soothe Trump and Giuliani and get Ukraine to act on the probes they had been delaying.
Whether the draft statement was discussed during Volker's closed-door congressional briefing Thursday remains unclear, according to the Times. But Volker reportedly did share with lawmakers a series of text exchanges in which the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, expressed disbelief about withholding military aid to the country. “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Taylor texted to Sondland. Sondland then consulted with Trump and replied, claiming that no quid pro quo had been discussed. After that, Sondland shut the conversation down, texting, “I suggest we stop the back and forth by text.” Huh.
On MSNBC, Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia confirmed that Volker had revealed those texts in the closed-door session and noted that the text exchange took place before any whistleblower complaint had been filed (though he did not share the exact text dates). But the texts’ timing thoroughly confirms that people within the administration considered the military aid to be tied to the investigations in quid pro quo fashion. However, if Republicans don't want to call it a quid pro quo, Connolly said, "I think we ought to call this what it is, it's extortion," adding that extortion is both "morally wrong" and "illegal."