Although the main focus of the congressional impeachment hearings have been centered on Donald Trump's efforts to extort Ukraine, the Democratic counsel has also used his questioning to underscore the involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin at pivotal moments in the scandal.
During his questioning of National Security Council official and Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Democrats’ lead counsel Daniel Goldman asked Vindman whether he knew that Putin had promoted the baseless theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections.
Q: At the time of this July 25 call, Col. Vindman, were you aware of the theory that Ukraine intervened or interfered in the 2016 U.S. election?
A: I was.
Q: Are you aware of any credible evidence to support this theory?
A: I am not.
Q: Are you also aware that Vladimir Putin had promoted this theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election?
A: I am well aware of that fact.
Q: And ultimately which country did U.S. intelligence services determine to have interfered in the 2016 election?
A: It is the consensus of the entire intelligence community that the Russians interfered in U.S. elections in 2016.
Goldman also noted the fact that Trump had a call with Putin in the critical spring timeframe in which then-Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was removed from her post. Goldman uses April 21 as an initial marker because that's the date of Trump's first phone call with incoming Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky—a call that was basically innocuous at its core.
Q: I want to ask you if you were aware of the following things that happened from April 21st to May 13th.
Q: Were you aware that Ambassador Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled from Ukraine in that time?
A: Yes. ... So the notification occurred towards the end of April and she was finally recalled in May timeframe, I think May 25th, if I recall correctly.
Q: So she learned about it after April 21st, on April 24th, is that right?
A: Correct.
Q: And were you aware that President Trump had a telephone call with President Putin during this time period in early May?
A: I was.
Q: And were you aware that Rudy Giuliani had planned a trip to go to Ukraine to pressure the Ukrainians to initiate the two investigations that President Trump mentioned on the July 25th call in this time period?
A: I was aware that he was traveling there and that he was -- he had been promoting the idea of these investigations.
Goldman also used his time questioning Ambassador Yovanovitch last week to establish that Putin was the source of the disinformation about Ukraine interference. Goldman first showed her a statement that Putin made in early February 2017 during a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in which Putin stated, "As we all know, during the presidential campaign in the United States, the Ukrainian government adopted a unilateral position in favor of one candidate. More than that, certain oligarchs certainly with the approval of the political leadership funded this candidate or female candidate to be more precise." (As an aside, Republicans have even parroted Putin's claim during the hearings that Ukraine supported Clinton.)
Goldman then asked Yovanovitch how such a claim of Ukrainian interference would benefit Putin. Yovanovitch replied that it was "classic for an intelligence officer to try to throw off the scent and create an alternative narrative that maybe might get picked up and get some credence."
Putin has continually popped up at key points in this narrative, introducing and promoting the very idea that Ukraine meddled in 2016 when there's no evidence to support it and even speaking with Trump right around the time of some of his most precipitous decisions, such as abruptly recalling Yovanovitch from her post.
Look for Goldman to highlight more of Putin's involvement in Trump's Ukraine scandal throughout the rest of the public hearings.
