Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a top National Security Council official that was on President Donald Trump’s Ukraine phone call, both confirmed during their testimonies on Tuesday that there was no quid pro quo, no bribery, and no extortion.
“I wanted to start between the July 25 call between President Trump and President Zelensky,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) began. “Mr. Morrison, you were on that call and there was no mention of withholding aid on the call, correct?”
“That is correct, Congresswoman,” Morrison responded.
“And there was no quid pro quo, correct?” Stefanik asked.
“Correct,” Morrison responded.
“No bribery?” Stefanik responded.
“Correct,” Morrison responded.
“No extortion?” Stefanik asked.
“Correct,” Morrison responded.
Stefanik proceeded to ask Volker all the same questions and Volker gave all the same answers.
President Donald Trump declared victory over the hearing, writing on Twitter: “A great day for Republicans, a great day for our Country!”
A great day for Republicans, a great day for our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2019
WATCH:
.@EliseStefanik completely deconstructs the Dems’ case with her questioning.
“Schiff got the facts wrong” is turning into an evergreen phrase.
Morrison & Volker agree no quid pro quo, no bribery, no extortion.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/n5qGj9R1e7
— Tommy Pigott (@TCPigott) November 20, 2019
Full transcript on Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) questioning of Kurt Volker, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, senior National Security Council official:
Rep. Elise Stefanik: I wanted to start with the July 25th call between President Trump and President Zelensky. Mr. Morrison, you were on that call and there was no mention of withholding aid on the call, correct?
Morrison: That is correct, congresswoman.
Rep. Stefanik: And there was no quid pro quo, correct?
Morrison: Correct.
Rep. Stefanik: No bribery?
Morrison: correct.
Rep. Stefanik: No extortion.
Morrison: Correct.
Rep. Stefanik: and Ambassador Volker — Volker, I presume you got a readout of the call, is that correct?
Amb. Volker: A very terse readout, but yes.
Rep. Stefanik: In this terse readout of the call from the U.A. participants, was there any reference to withholding aid?
Amb. Volker: No, was there not.
Rep. Stefanik: Any reference to bribery?
Amb. Volker: No, was there not.
Rep. Stefanik: Any reference to quid pro quo?
Amb. Volker: No, was there not.
Rep. Stefanik: Any reference to extortion.
Amb. Volker: No, was there not.
Rep. Stefanik: And I presume you got feedback with your Ukrainian counterparts as to how the call went? Did they mention the withholding of aid?
Amb. Volker: No, they did not.
Rep. Stefanik: Did they mention any quid pro quo?
Amb. Volker: No, they did not.
Rep. Stefanik: And did they mention bribery?
Amb. Volker: No, they did not.
Rep. Stefanik: And in fact, the day after the call, you meet with President Zelensky. This would be on the July 26th.
Amb. Volker: That’s correct.
Rep. Stefanik: And In that meeting he made no mention of quid pro quo?
Amb. Volker: No.
Rep. Stefanik: He made no mention of withholding the aid?
Amb. Volker: No.
Rep. Stefanik: He made no mention of bribery.
Amb. Volker: No.
Rep. Stefanik: So, the fact is that the Ukrainians were unaware of this withhold of aid, is that correct?
Amb. Volker: Correct.
Rep. Stefanik: And in the coming weeks you were in contact with the Ukrainians as part of your official duties, and this includes talking to the Ukrainians over the phone, in person, on text, and the Ukrainians never brought up an investigation into the Bidens, is that correct?
Amb. Volker: That’s correct.
Rep. Stefanik: They never brought up the withholding of the aid?
Amb. Volker: That’s correct.
Rep. Stefanik: They never brought up quid pro quo or bribery?
Amb. Volker: Let me bring up the aid. They did bring up the aid after the Politico article.
Rep. Stefanik: I’m going to get to that, but until the Politico article, they did not bring it up?
Amb. Volker: Until then, no.
Rep. Stefanik: Article they did not bring it up. And you said in your closed-door deposition it never came up in conversation with them, and I believe they had trust in me that they would have asked if that was really what they were worried about. Is that correct?
Amb. Volker: That is correct.
Rep. Stefanik: And as you pointed out the Ukrainians never even knew their foreign aid was on pause until the article was published in Politico in August?
Amb. Volker: That’s correct.
Rep. Stefanik: So they didn’t know during the call?
Amb. Volker: That’s correct.
Rep. Stefanik: And in fact, you had to correct Chairman Schiff on his timeline in the closed-door deposition. the chairman of this committee asked you, quote, ‘when they became aware that military assistance was being withheld for a reason you couldn’t explain, no one could explain, weren’t they under even greater pressure to give the president what he asked for in the call.’ And you answered, Ambassador Volker, quote, ‘to my knowledge the news about a hold on security assistance did not get into Ukrainian government circles, as indicated to me by the current foreign minister, then-diplomatic adviser, until the end of August.’ Is that your testimony?
Amb. Volker: Yes, it is.
Rep. Stefanik: And Chairman Schiff also got the facts wrong, again, when he asked you this, quote, ‘at the point they learned their aid was paused wouldn’t that give them added urgency to meet the president’s request on the Bidens?’ And you answer Ambassador Volker, ‘I think the Ukrainians felt like they were going in the right direction and they had not done anything. They had not done anything on an investigation.’ End quote. Isn’t it the case, Ambassador Volker, at one point Chairman Schiff said to you, when you were truthfully testifying, quote, ‘Ambassador, you’re making this much more complicated than it has to be.’ End quote. That’s page 127 from the deposition. Is that correct?
Amb. Volker: I remember that.
Rep. Stefanik: But the truth is the facts are indeed not complicated. And I’m going to close out with two questions for the both of you. Did Ukraine open an investigation into the Bidens? Mr. Morrison?
Morrison: Not to my knowledge, ma’am.
Rep. Stefanik: Ambassador Volker?
Amb. Volker: Not to my knowledge either.
Rep. Stefanik: Did either or you ever have evidence of quid pro quo?
Morrison: No, ma’am.
Amb. Volker: I did not.
Rep. Stefanik: Any evidence of bribery?
Morrison: No, ma’am.
Amb. Volker: No, ma’am.
Rep. Stefanik: Any evidence of treason?
Morrison: No, ma’am.
Amb. Volker: No evidence of treason.