knowledge, nobody in the ukrainian government was aware of the hold. and your answer was: that is correct. is that still your testimony? mr. ratcliffe, at some point in september. i m talking about on july 25th. o, july 25th, sorry. yes. that s correct. that s correct. they did not know this. all right. as it turns out president zelensky agreed with you. on october 10th, president zelensky held a press marathon with over 300 reporters where he said repeatedly and consistently over hours and hours that he was not aware of a military hold during the july 25th call. in fact, in his official press release from the ukrainian government available on his website that i will be introducing into the record, he said our phone conversation bear no, sir relations to arms. they blocked the provision of military assistance prior to our telephone conversation, but the issue had not been discussed during our conversation.
corruption in ukraine at vice president biden and at the 2020 election. and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. conaway is recognized for five minutes. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield my time for the gentleman from texas mr. ratcliff. i thank the gentleman and i thank you both for being here. it s obvious from your testimony today that you both care a great deal about u.s.-ukraine relations. it s also very clear that you are optimistic about president zelensky first acts in congress immunity long source of corruption. i know you have had a number of personal dealings with him. has he given you any reason to question his honesty or his integrity? no, sir. in your prior deposition, i asked you and i will read it directly. if nobody in the ukrainian government is aware of a military hold at the time of the trump-zelensky call that as a matter of law and as a matter of fact there can be no quid pro quo based on military aid and, to your
my esteem chairman. thank you, ambassador taylor, i don t know if you have had a chance to read some of the transcripts that have been released. found out the aid was being withheld before it became public knowledge? mr. chairman, i have read that. i think there is still some question about when they may have heard. and ultimately, they did find out when the political story came out, to your knowledge. but others have said even sooner. but they did find out, right, ambassador? they did, mr. chairman. and at the time they found out, they knew what president trump wanted from them, that he wanted these investigations, correct? ambassador sondland informed president zelensky s staff, that is mr. yermak of what was required, yes. so, ukraine finds out
self-dealing but 2016 and the bidens. was that your understanding? that was my understanding. and, in fact, when you said your staff overheard this call between ambassador sondland and the president, in that call, the president brings up investigation. does he not? he did. and, immediately after the president gets off the phone with sondland, sondland is asked by your staff what does the president think about ukraine? and his answer is he is just interested in the bidens. am i right? he said he was more interested in the bidens. more interested in the bidens. no discussion of la chess ski or chalupa or things that happened seven years ago? he was interested in the bidens? yes, sir. now, i think you also testified that.
anticorruption agency in ukraine that was called the national anticorruption bureau. there was a different body that reviewed asset declarations for unusual wealth called national anti corruption prevention council. and eventually we got to helping them establish a special anticorruption prosecutor and eventually a high court on anticorruption. and that was to try to create investigators, prosecutors and courts with integrity that couldn t be bought and would be focused on high level corruption. so what i m hearing there, mr. kent, is a very comprehensive effort. so, let me read to you president trump s own words to the ukrainian president in a july 25th phone call. and i quote: there is a lot of talk about biden s son that biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that. so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it, it sounds horrible to me. mr. ken