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I think the way cheating Trump, intentionally put in jeopardy Ukrainian Troops and their resistance efforts, against Russia’s intrusion into their country, cannot be overstated.
The fact that while Trump was playing games with Military Aid approved by Congress, Ukrainian troops died and were injured on the front-lines of Russia’s ongoing aggression, needs to be repeated again and again. Until the average American, understands the serious consequences having a Commander-in-Chief who put his own (cheating) elections strategy, ahead of the National Interests of the U.S. and our western Allies.
These two non-partisan diplomatic professionals get it. They understand the weighty consequences of holding back aid, from real “Freedom Fighters” as Trump selfishly did. Here as some of the instances where they tried to explain it to the rest of us. The life and death that hangs in the balance.
From Bill Taylor’s opening statement:
[...]
Bill Taylor: (00:36)
By way of background, it has been a privilege for me to serve our country and the American people for more than 50 years. Starting as a cadet at West Point is, you have mentioned Mr. Chairman, then as an infantry officer for six years, including with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, then at the Department of Energy, then as a member of a senate staff, then at NATO, then with the State Department here and abroad in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jerusalem, and Ukraine. I retired from the State Department in 2009 to join the United States Institute of Peace. I’m neither a career member of the Foreign Service nor of the civil service. I am nonpartisan and have been appointed to my positions by every president from President Reagan to President Trump.
Bill Taylor: (01:20)
Let me summarize my main points. First, Ukraine is a strategic partner of the United States, important for the security of our country as well as Europe. Ukraine is on the frontline in the conflict with the newly aggressive Russia. Second, even as we sit here today, the Russians are attacking Ukrainian soldiers in their own country and have been for the last four years. I saw this on the frontline last week. The day I was there, a Ukrainian soldier was killed, and four were wounded. Third, the security assistance we provide is crucial to Ukraine’s defense and to the protection of the soldiers I met on the frontline last week. It demonstrates to Ukrainians and Russians that we are Ukraine’s reliable strategic partner. It is clearly in our national interest to deter further Russian aggression.
Bill Taylor: (02:23)
Finally, as the Committee is aware, I wrote that withholding security assistance in exchange for help with a domestic political campaign in the United States would be crazy. I believe that then, and I believe it now. [...]
Bill Taylor: (03:50)
Days later, Mr. Putin invaded Crimea, holding a sham referendum at the point of Russian army rifles. The Russians absurdly claim that 97% voted to join Russia. In early April, Putin sent his army and security forces into South Eastern Ukraine to generate illegal armed formations and puppet governments and what we know is Donbass. You can see this on the map in right-hand portion, in the eastern portion of the country. 14,000 Ukrainians have died in the war in Donbass, and more die each week.
Bill Taylor: (04:27)
In July of 2014 these Russian-led forces in Donbass shut down a civilian airliner en route from Amsterdam to Malaysia, killing all 298 people on board. We, the Europeans, and most of the west imposed economic sanctions and kicked the Russians out of the G8. Beginning in 2014, we and NATO began to provide military assistance to Ukraine’s armed forces in the form of training, advice, military equipment, and weapons. It is this security assistance that is at the heart of the controversy that we are discussing today. [...]
Taylor being questioned by General Counsel for the Democrats:
Bill Taylor: (00:35)
As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.
Daniel Goldman: (00:44)
What did you mean when you said you thought it was crazy?
Bill Taylor: (00:48)
Mr.Goldman, I meant that because of the importance of security assistance that we had just described and had a conversation with the chairman, because that was so important. That security system was so important for Ukraine, as well as our own national interest, to withhold that assistance for no good reason other than help with the political campaign made no sense. It was counterproductive to all of what we had been trying to do. It was illogical. It could not be explained. It was crazy.
Daniel Goldman: (01:29)
When you say all of what we were trying to do, what do you mean by we?
Bill Taylor: (01:33)
I mean that the United States was trying to support Ukraine as a frontline state against Russian attack. And again, the whole notion of a rules based order was being threatened by the Russians in Ukraine. So our security assistance was designed to support Ukraine. It was not just the United States, it was all of our allies.
Daniel Goldman: (01:58)
When you reference help with a political campaign and it’s in this text message, what did you mean?
Bill Taylor: (02:04)
I meant that the investigation of Burisma and the Bidens was clearly identified by Mr. Giuliani in public four months as a way to get information on the two Bidens.
Daniel Goldman: (02:25)
And that investigation at the very least was mentioned by president Trump in the July 25th phone call with President Zelensky, is that right?
Bill Taylor: (02:34)
As we now know? Yes. On September 25th, that transcript was released.
Daniel Goldman: (02:40)
Ambassador Taylor, in your decades of military service and diplomatic service representing the United States around the world, have you ever seen another example of foreign aid conditioned on the personal or political interests of the president of the United States?
Bill Taylor: (02:59)
No. Mr Goldman, I’ve not.
Taylor being questioned by Chairman Adam Schiff:
Adam Schiff: (03:32)
I take it if the provision of US military assistance would save Ukrainian lives, lives that any delay in that assistance may also cost Ukrainian lives. Is that true?
Bill Taylor: (03:44)
Mr. Chairman, of course it’s hard to draw any direct lines between any particular element of security systems and any particular death on the battlefield, but it is certainly true that that assistance had enabled Ukrainian armed forces to be effective and deter and to be able to take countermeasures to the attacks that the Russians had [crosstalk 00:04:08]-
Adam Schiff: (04:08)
I think you said that a Ukrainian soldier lost their life while you were visiting Donbass.
Bill Taylor: (04:13)
We keep very careful track of the casualties and I noticed on the next day, information that we got that one was killed, four soldiers were wounded on that day.
Adam Schiff: (04:26)
And indeed Ukrainians lose their lives every week?
Bill Taylor: (04:30)
Every week.
Adam Schiff: (04:34)
I think you also testified that Russia was watching closely to gauge the level of American support for the Ukrainian government. Why is that significant?
Bill Taylor: (04:43)
This is significant, Mr. Chairman, because the Ukrainians in particular under this new administration are eager to end this war and they are eager to end it in a way that the Russians leave their territory. These negotiations, like all negotiations, are difficult. Ukrainians would like to be able to negotiate from a position of strength or at least more strength than they now have.
Bill Taylor: (05:14)
Part of that strength, part of the ability of the Ukrainians to negotiate against the Russians with the Russians for an end to the war in Donbass depends on the United States and other international support. If we withdraw, or suspend, or threatened to withdraw our security systems, that’s a message to the Ukrainians. But it’s at least as important as your question indicates, Mr. Chairman, to the Russians who are looking for any sign of weakness or any sign that we are withdrawing our support for Ukraine.
Adam Schiff: (05:48)
And so when the Ukrainians learned of the suspension of the military aid, either privately or when others learned publicly, the Russians would be learning also and they would take that as a lack of robust US support for Ukraine. Is that right?
Bill Taylor: (06:07)
That’s correct, sir.
Adam Schiff: (06:08)
And that would weaken Ukraine in negotiating an end to the war in Donbass?
Bill Taylor: (06:14)
It would.
Kent being questioned by Rep Jackie Speier; and then Ambassador Taylor:
Jackie Speier: (00:00)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you both for your true heroic efforts, both tonight, today, and also throughout your careers. I’d like to start with you, Mr. Kent. In your testimony, you said that you had, “In mid-August, it became clear to me that Giuliani’s efforts to gin up politically motivated investigations were now infecting US engagement with Ukraine, leveraging President’s Zelensky’s desire for a White House meeting.” Mr. Kent, did you actually write a memo documenting your concerns that there was an effort underway to pressure Ukraine to open an investigation to benefit President Trump?
George Kent: (00:46)
Yes, ma’am. I wrote a memo to the file on August 16th.
Jackie Speier: (00:49)
But we don’t have access to that memo, do we?
George Kent: (00:52)
I submitted it to the State Department, subject to the September 27th subpoena.
Jackie Speier: (00:56)
And we have not received one piece of paper from the State Department relative to this investigation. Both of you have made compelling cases of the importance of Ukraine to Europe, to the 70 years of peace, the benefit that it has to the United States national security, and our goal to continue to support sovereignty of nations. Meanwhile, Russia is violently attacking people in Ukraine in the Donbass area. So withholding military aid, does that weaken Ukraine?
George Kent: (01:39)
Well, I think it sends the wrong signal and it did for a short period of time. Again, the assistance from the FYI 19 was released and is in the process of heading towards Ukraine.
Jackie Speier: (01:52)
Does it embolden Russia when there was no aid being sent to Ukraine?
George Kent: (01:59)
I think the signal that there is controversy and question about the US support of Ukraine sends the signal to Vladimir Putin that he can leverage that as he seeks to negotiate with not only Ukraine, but other countries.
Jackie Speier: (02:12)
Thank you. Ambassador Taylor, I think you mentioned that a White House meeting for Zelensky would boost his ability to negotiate for a peaceful settlement with Vladimir Putin and Russia in general. Is that true?
Bill Taylor: (02:28)
Ms. Speier, it is certainly true that US support for Mr. Zelensky, President Zelensky, and his negotiations with the Russians is very important. And will enable him to get a better agreement with that support from the United States, both from the military assistance, but also just from the political assistance that we can provide.
Jackie Speier: (02:50)
But he has not yet had that White House meeting has he?
Bill Taylor: (02:53)
He has not.
Jackie Speier: (02:55)
I think it’s ironic that Soviet born Lev Parnas, who has now been indicted, had a meeting with the President in the White House after participating in a number of campaign events for the President, and contributing $325,000 to the President’s PAC. So maybe it’s actually the requirement that you give money to the President’s PAC in order to get that meeting at the White House.
From George Kent’s opening statement:
[...]
George Kent: (03:15)
The United States has very clear national interests at stake in Ukraine. Ukraine’s success is very much in our national interest in the way we have defined our national interest broadly in Europe for the past 75 years. After World War II, US leadership furthered far-sighted policies like the Marshall Plan in the creation of a rules-based international order protected by the collective security provided by NATO. Western Europe recovered and thrived after the carnage of World War II, not withstanding the shadow of the Iron Curtain. Europe’s security and prosperity contributed to our security and prosperity. Support of Ukraine’s success also fits squarely into our strategy for Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the wall 30 years ago this past week. A Europe truly whole, free, and at peace, our strategic game for the entirety of my foreign service career, is not possible without a Ukraine whole, free, and at peace, including Crimea and the Donbass, territories currently occupied by Russia, represented by the red in the map.
George Kent: (04:26)
Looking forward, the Trump administration’s national security strategy makes clear the global strategic challenge now before us: great power competition with rivals such as Russia and China, and the need to compete for positive influence without taking countries for granted. In that sense, Ukraine has been on the front lines, not just of Russia’s conventional war in Eastern Europe since 2014 and its broader campaign of malign influence, but of the greater geopolitical challenges now facing the United States. Ukraine’s popular revolution of dignity in 2014 forced a corrupt, pro-Russian leadership to flee to Moscow. After that, Russia invaded Ukraine, occupying 7% of its territory, roughly equivalent to the size of Texas for the United States. At that time, Ukraine’s state institutions were on the verge of collapse. Ukrainian civil society answered the challenge. They formed volunteer battalions of citizens, including technology professionals and medics. They crowdsourced funding for their own weapons, body armor, and supplies.
George Kent: (05:37)
They were the 21st century Ukrainian equivalent of our own Minutemen of 1776, buying time for a regular army to reconstitute. Since then, more than 13,000 Ukrainians have died on Ukrainian soil, defending their territorial integrity and sovereignty from Russian aggression. America’s support in Ukraine’s own de facto war of independence has been critical in this regard. By analogy, the American colonies may not have prevailed against the British imperial might without the help of transatlantic friends after 1776. In an echo of Lafayette’s organized assistance to General George Washington’s army and Admiral John Paul Jones’ navy, Congress has generously appropriated over $1.5 billion over the past five years, and desperately-needed trained and equipped security assistance to Ukraine. These funds increase Ukraine’s strength and ability to fight Russian aggression. Ultimately, Ukraine is on a path to become a full security partner of the United States within NATO. Similar to von Steuben training colonials at Valley Forge, US and NATO allied trainers develop the skills of Ukrainian units at Yavoriv, near the Polish border and elsewhere.
[...]
George Kent: (08:42)
Those funds increase Ukraine’s ability to fight Russian aggression in the defense, energy, cyber, and information spheres. They also empower state institutions and civil society to undertake systemic reforms and tackle corruption. I believe all of us can be proud of our efforts in Ukraine over the past five years, even though much remains to be done. By all of us, I mean those of us in the legislative and the executive branches in both parties, the interagency community working out of our embassy in Kiev, with Ukrainians in government, the military, and civil society, and our transatlantic allies and partners. We cannot allow our resolve to waver, since too much is at stake, not just for Ukraine and the future of European security, but for the national interests of the United States broadly defined.
The military aid was only released to Ukraine — after he was caught red-handed.
AFTER the whistle-blower story broke. That FACT cannot be overstated either.
It was not out of the kindness of Trump’s “heart”, nor out of the depths of Trump bottomless “wisdom” — NO, that aid was only released after Trump was caught — neck deep in the mucky swamp of his own making.
If not for the whistle-blower report, Trump might still be strengthening Russia’s geo-political hand — by denying the Aid to our Ally. By usurping the will of Congress, with his seemingly bottomless “Abuses of Power”.
And people die, because of it ... nearly every time he does this.
… What’s the death count on Trump’s “kids in cages” abuse of power, by the way?
Trump you see, is an “equal-opportunity” oppressor.
When will Enough, finally be ENOUGH … of this outrageously out-of-control Trump-show?
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