In the house impeachment inquiry. No president in history has ever done anything like this. Many president s have expressed they couldnt do anything like this. President trump did not take these extreme steps to hide evidence of his innocence or to protect the institution of the presidency. As a career Law Enforcement officer, i have never seen anyone take such extreme steps to hide evidence allegedly proving his innocence. And i do not find that here today. The president is engaged in this coverup because he is guilty, and he knows it and he knows that the evidence he is concealing will only further demonstrate his culpability. Notwithstanding this effort to stonewall our inquiry, the house amassed powerful evidence of the president s high crimes and misdemeanors. 17 witnesses, 130 hours of testimony combined with the president s own admission on phonecalls and Public Comments confirmed and corroborated by hundreds of texts, emails and documents. Much of that evidence came from patriotic, nonpartisan decorated officials in the state department. They are brave men and women who honor their obligations under the law gave testimony required by congressional subpoena in the face of the president s taunts and insults. These officials describe the president s campaign to induce to pressure ukraine to announce a political investigation. Issues of three ended 91 million of vital military aid, taxpayer money appropriated on a bipartisan basis by congress as leverage to force ukraine to comply and is withholding of a meeting desperately sought by the newlyelected president of ukraine. This testimony was particularly compelling because the state department is at the very center of President Trumps wrongdoing. We heard firsthand from diplomatic officials who saw up close and personal what was happening and who immediately, immediately sounded the alarms. Ambassador William Taylor who returned to ukraine in june of last year as acting ambassador texted other state officials. I think its crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a political campaign. Ambassador to the ukraine and the European UnionGordon Sondland who was delegated authority over ukraine matters by none other than President Trump testified, we knew these investigations were important to the president and we followed the president s orders. And david holmes a senior official at the u. S. Embassy in kiev said it was made clear that some action on the Burisma Biden investigation was the condition for an oval office meeting. During their testimony many of the state Department Officials describe specific documents including Text Messages, emails , former diplomatic cables and notes that would corroborate their testimony and shed additional light on President Trumps corrupt schemes. For instance ambassador taylor who raised that military aid had been conditioned on the presence demand for political investigations described a little note luck in which he would take notes on conversations he had with key officials. Ambassador sondland referred recipients to emails regarding the presence demand that ukraine announced political investigations. Emails that were sent to some of president s top advisers including acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, secretary of state Michael Pompeo and secretary of energy, rick perry. Deputy assistant secretary george kent who oversaw policy matters in washington for the state department wrote at least four men most to file, to document concerning conduct he witnessed or heard and ambassador volcker a special representative for ukraine negotiations provided evidence that he and other american officials communicated with highlevel ukrainian officials including president zelensky himself. Via text message and whatsapp about the president s improper demand and how ukrainian officials would respond to them. Based on the testimony we received and on evidence that is since emerged all of these documents and others that we will describe art directly on the allegations set forth in the first article of impeachment. They would help complete our understanding of how the president s scheme unfolded in real time. They would support the conclusion that senior ukrainian officials understood the corrupt nature of President Trumps demands and they would further expose the extent to which secretary pompeo acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and other Senior Trump Administration officials were aware of the presence plot and helped carry it out. We are not talking about the burdensome number of documents. We are talking about a specific discrete set of materials held by the state department. Documents the state department had already collected in response to our subpoena but have never produced. We know these materials exist. We know they are relevant and we know the president is desperately trying to conceal them. As i will describe the senate should subpoena the following. Number one whatsapp and other text message communications, two, emails to read diplomatic cables and four, notes. Give us the significance and relevance of these documents the house requested that they be provided. When these requests were denied, when our requests were denied the house issued subpoenas demanding that the documents be turned over. But at the president s direction the department of state unlawfully defied that subpoena and i stand here now, as i stand here now the state department has all these documents in its possession but refuses based on the president s order to let them see the light of day. This is an affront to the house, which has full power to see these documents. It is an affront to the senate which has been denied a full record on which to judge the president s guilt or innocence and it is an affront to the constitution which makes clearly that nobody, not even the president , is above the law. And it is an affront to the American People who have a right to know what the president and his allies are hiding from him and why it is being hidden. In prior impeachment trials this body is issued subpoenas requiring the recipient to hand over relevant documents. It must do so again here and it must do so now at the beginning of the trial, not the end. Of course the need for a Senate Subpoena arises because as i have noted the president ordered the state department to defy a subpoena from the house. At this point i would like reflect describe our own efforts did get those materials. I will then address and a more detailed fashion exactly what documents the state department has hidden from the American People and why the senate should require it to turn them over. On september 9, exercising their article i Oversight Authority the House Investigative Committee side document request, sent a document request of the state department. The committee sought materials related to the president s effort to pressure ukraine to announce investigations into his political rival as well as his dangerous, unexplained withholding of millions of dollars in vital military aid after the state department failed to produce any documents the House Committee on Foreign Affairs issued a subpoena to the state department on september 27th. In a letter on october 1, secretary pompeo acknowledged receipt of the subpoena. At that time he stated that he would respond to the committees subpoena for documents by the return date october 4 but his response never came. Instead on october 8, President Trumps lawyer writing on the presidency after issued a directive confirming the administration was stonewalled. The impeachment inquiry. Today the state department has not produced a single document, not a single document in response to the congressional subpoena. But witnesses have testified who testified indicated the state department had gathered all of the records and were prepared to produce, provide them before the white house directing it to defy the subpoena notwithstanding his unlawful obstruction to the testimony of brave state department employees. The house was able to identify the with remarkable precision several categories of documents relevant to the first article of impeachment that are sitting right now, right now documents are sitting right now at the state department. I would like to walk you through four key categories of documents that should be subpoenaed and which illustrate the highly relevant documents the state department could reduce immediately. They could produce them immediately for this trial. The first category consists of whatsapp and other Text Messages from state Department Officials caught up in this including ambassador sondland and taylor and also Deputy Assistant secretary george cant all and george kent all three of whom say they regularly use whatsapp to communicate with each other and Foreign Government officials. Deputy assistant secretary kent explained whatsapp is the dominant form of communication in certain parts of the world. We know that the state department assesses these records of whatsapp and Text Messages from critical eyewitnesses to these proceedings including from ambassador sondland and taylor and Deputy Assistant secretary kent. We know the department is deliberately, deliberately concealing these records at the direction of the president and we know that they could contain highly relevant testimony about the president s plan to condition the official president ial acts on the announcement of investigations for his own personal and political gain. We know this not only from testimony but also because ambassador volker was able to provide us with a small but telling selection of his whatsapp messages. Those records confirm within full review of these whatsapp messages from relevant officials would help to paint a vivid firsthand picture of statements , decisions, concerns and beliefs held by important players and events unfolding in real time. For example thanks to ambassador volkers messages we know ambassador sondland they keep player in the president s Pressure Campaign who testified in the house about a quid pro quo arrangement texted directly with the ukrainian president , president zelensky. This image produced by ambassador volker appears to be a shot of a text message that ambassador sondland exchanged with president zelensky about plans for the white house visit, the very same visit that president zelensky badly needed and the President Trump later withheld as part of a quid pro quo required by ambassador sondland in his testimony. This body and the American People have a right to know what alice ambassador sondland and president zelensky said in this and other relevant exchanges about the white house meeting or about the military aid and the president s demand. We all know exactly what was conveyed and when. We dont know if President Trump directed the state department to conceal these vital records. These are records that the state department would have otherwise turned over if not for the president s direction and desire to cover up his wrongdoings. To get a sense of why text and whatsapp messages are so vital, just consider whether another piece of evidence reclaimed from ambassador volker partially production. On july 10 at the white house meeting at which ambassador sondland pressured ukrainian officials of President Trumps political opponent a ukrainian governmental official text of ambassador volker, i feel that the key for many things is rudy and i am ready to talk with him at any time. This is evidence that immediately following ambassadors sondlands ultimatum could ukrainian officials recognize that they needed to appease Rudy Giuliani by carrying out the investigation. Of course mr. Giuliani had publicly confirmed that he was not engaged in Foreign Policy but it was instead his client, the president s own personal interests. Further and another text Message Exchange provided by ambassador volker we see evidence that ukraine understood President Trumps demand loud and clear. On the morning of july 25, half an hour before the infamous call between President Trump and president zelensky ambassador volker wrote, to a senior ukrainian officials heard from white house. Assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened between in 2016 we will nail down date for a visit to washington. Good luck. See you tomorrow, curt. Ambassador sondland confirmed that this accurately summarize the president directive to him earlier that morning. After the phonecall between President Trump and president zelensky the ukrainian official responded pointedly. Phonecall went well. He then discussed potential dates for a white house meeting. Then the very next day ambassador volker wrote to Rudy Giuliani exactly the right messages as we discussed. These messages confirmed mr. Giulianis central role, the premeditated nature of President Trump solicitation of political investigation and the Pressure Campaign on ukraine waged by mr. Giuliani and senior officials at President Trumps direction. Again this is just some of what we learned from ambassador volkers records. As you will see during this trial presentation there were numerous whatsapp messages while ambassador volker and sondland and mr. Giuliani are pressuring president zelenskys top aide to issue a statement announcing the investigation that President Trump wanted and ambassador taylors text that you saw earlier about withholding the aid further reveals how much more material there likely is that relates to the articles of impeachment. There can be no doubt that a full production of relevant tax and whatsapp messages from other officials involving ukraine and in touch with ukrainian officials including ambassador sondland, ambassador taylor and Deputy Assistant secretary kent would further eliminate the malfeasance addressed in our first article. This leads to the second category of documents at the state department unlawfully withholding. Emails involving key state Department Officials concerning interactions with senior ukrainian officials and related to military aid. A white house meeting and the president s demand for investigations into his rival. For example on july 19, ambassador Gordon Sondland both directly with president zelensky about the upcoming july 25 call between President Trump and president zelensky. Ambassador sondland sent an email updating key officials about secretary pompeo including secretary pompeo, acting white house chief of staff mulvaney and senior advisory robert blair in this email he noted t. Prepared president zelensky was willing to make the announcement of a political investigation that President Trump desired. Secretary perry and met mulvaney then responded to sondland acknowledging they receive the email recommending to move forward with a phonecall. That became the july 25 call between the president of the United States and ukraine. We know all of this not because the state department provided us with critical documents but instead because ambassador sondland provided us a reproduction of the email. In his public testimony ambassador sondland quite correctly explained that this email demonstrated quote everyone was in the loop. Everyone was in the loot. It was no secret. Everyone was informed via email on july 19, days before the president called. As i communicated i told president zelensky in advance insurance is to run a fully transparent investigation and turnover every stone were necessary in his call with President Trump. Even viewed a loan this reproduced email alone reproduced and sent after the investor personally convey the president demand for investigations into the ukrainian steps leading several officials to sound alarms. It was sent just a few days before the july 25 call where President Trump asked for a favor and buy itself this email shows who was in brawl than President Trumps plan to pressure the ukrainian president for his own political gain. But its obvious that the full email chain and other related emails at this key time period would also be highly relevant. We dont have those emails as the state department is hiding them. At the direction of the president. The senate should issue the proposed subpoena to ensure a complete record, a complete record of these and other relevant emails. Any doubt that the state department is concealing Critical Evidence from this body was resolved when the state department was recently ordered to release documents including emails pursuant to a lawsuit under the freedom of information act. These documents are heavily redacted and are limited to a very narrow time period nevertheless despite the heavy reductions these high