Mr. Eisenberg, he told me to take my concerns to him. And, theres a period of time in it wasnt that long a period of time, but it was enough time for me to enough time to talk to someone who you want i will assume it is, right . Ive been instructed not to, representative jordan. Hes what im getting. He told you not to talk to any of the people and you interpret that as not talking to your boss. But you talked to your brother, you talked to the lawyers, you talked to secretary kent, and the one guy adam schiff will let you tell us who he is. Is that right . Representative jordan, i did my job. Im not saying you didnt. All im saying is the instructions from the lawyer where that you shouldnt talk to
anybody, and you interpret that as dont talk to my boss, but im gonna go talk to someone that we cant even ask you if that individual is. That is incorrect. I just read what you said. I shouldnt talk to any of the people. The time of the gentleman has expired. Im sorry, mr. Chairman, that sequence is not the way it played out. Please, let the colonel answer. Speak of the sequence played out where immediately afterwards i expressed my concerns, i did my coordination function, mr. Eisenberg circle background and told me how to talk to anybody else. In that period of time i did not manage to so thats what happened. Thats when he talked to someone. Thats right. Think you, mr. Chairman. Colonel vindman, lets go back to that pair of meetings on jul. About scrambled eggs office and down in the boardroom, were you witnessed ambassador sondland informed the ukrainian officials that, as a prerequisite, ukrainians would have to deliver an investigation into the bidens. You said that ambassador sondland was calling for an investigation that didnt exist into the bidens and burisma. Is that correct . That is correct. That same afternoon he went to mr. Eisenberg, correct . That occurred in the afternoon, and im sure it was a been within a couple hours i talk to mr. Eisenberg. How did he react . He was cool, calm, and collected. He said he would look into it and you took notes. Did he tell you you would be free to come back if you have additional concerns . He did, mr. Congressman. Ambassador sondland said his request to the ukrainians had been coordinated with the acting Chief Of Staff, Mick Mulvaney. Did you report that to mr. Eisenberg . I did. What was his reaction . He took notes and he said he would follow up or look into it. I dont recall exactly what he said. Colonel, you also testified
that on the July 25th Call between the two president s there was no doubt President Trump asked for investigations into the 2016 election, and Vice President bidens son, in return for a white house meeting. Within an hour of that call, you reported that mr. Eisenberg, did you not . I did. Went back to them to see if it was appropriate . Hes an assistant to the president. It was less a suggestion and more of an instruction. Did you tell the lawyers that President Trump asked president zelensky to speak to mr. Giuliani . Yes. And the lawyers, it was at this point, told you not to talk to anyone else . That is not correct with regard to timing. They didnt follow up they didnt circle back around. What ended up happening is, in my coordination role, i spoke to a member of the intelligence community. General counsel from one of the intelligence bodies notified mr. Eisenberg that there was information on the call, on the July 25th Call. At that point mr. Eisenberg told me i shouldnt talk to anybody else about it. Colonel, i want to go bac bao 2014. In iraq. When you were blown up. I presume that, given the point in your Military Career and what else was going on in the world, that upon recovery there was the very real prospect or possibility that you might once again find yourself in harms way. Is that correct . Yes, congressman. It happened in 2004, but yes. 2004, excuse me. Thank you. Did you consider leaving the Military Service at that point . No. Frankly, congressman, i suffered light winds. I was fortunate compared to my counterparts in the same
vehicle, and i returned to duty i think it may have been that same day. But you could have been subjected to additional harm. You chose to continue service in uniform . I continued to serve in combat for the remaining ten or 11 months of the tour. You know, colonel, i have to say i find it a rich but incredibly painful irony that, within a week of the president , contrary to all advice of the senior military officials, he pardons those who were convicted of war crimes. Which was widely decried in the military community. Within the week of him doing that, he is engaged in an effo effort, allies on his behalf including some here today, to demean your record of service and the sacrifice and the contribution you have made. Indeed, sir, less than 20 minutes ago the white house
officially quoted out, out of context, the comments referred to earlier by mr. Morrison in your judgment. I can only conclude, sir, that what we thought was just the president as the subject of our deliberations in this inquiry isnt sufficient to capture what is happening here. Indeed, what subject to this inquiry and what is at peril as our constitution, and the very values upon which it is based. I want to say thank you for your service, but thank you doesnt cut it. Please know, however, that it comes from the bottom of my heart, and i know on the bottoms of the hearts of countless other americans. Thank you for your service, sir. Ill back. Mr. Jordan . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sunday, the speaker of the United States house of representatives called the
president of the United States an imposter. Speaker of the house called the president an imposter. 63 Million People voted for him. The guy who went on an Electoral College landslide. The people calls an imposter. That has what has happened to or country come to this congress. The speakers statement says it all. The democrats have never accepted the will of the American People. Democrats dont trust the American People. The American People who want to defend someone in this town who was willing to shake it up a bit. They dont trust that. They have tried to do everything they can to undo what the American People decided on november 8th, 2016. Theyve been out to get the president since the day he was elected. The whistleblowers lawyer, the whistleblowers legal team, said this january 30th, 2017. The president had been in office about a week. Coup has started, first of many steps. Next sentence, impeachment will follow ultimately. I guess you are in the final step. It started three and a half years ago. Congressman tlaib, first day of congress, said impeach the president. Representative greene said, if you dont impeach him, the president will win reelection. He got to do it. Most important income of five Democrat Members of this committee voted to move forward with impeachment before the phone call ever happened. The truth is that the attacks actually started before the inauguration, even before the election. The Ranking Member talked about this. His Opening Statement. July 2016. Fbi opens an investigation,
socalled trumprussia coordination, collusion, which was never there. Open an investigation, spied on two american citizens associated with the president ial campaign. Thats probably never happen in american history, but they did it. And for ten months, jim comeys fbi investigated the president. Guess what . After ten months, they had nothing. You know why we know that . We deposed mr. Comey last congress, he told us they didnt have a thing. No matter. Special counsel mueller gets appointed, and they do a 2year, 40 million, 19lawyer, unbelievable investigation. Guess what . They come back and theyve got nothing. But the democrats dont care. So now we get this. A bunch of depositions in the bunker in the basement of the capital, witnesses who arent allowed to answer questions about who they talked to you about the phone call. We get this. All based on some anonymous
whistleblower. No firsthand knowledge, bias against the president. These facts have never change. We learned these right away. Who worked with Vice President biden, who wrote a memo the day after somebody talked him about about the call. Awaited 18 days to file a complaint. 18 days to file a complete prewhat do you do in those 18 days . We all know. Ran off and talked with Chairman Schiffs staff. And then hired the legal team that i just talked about. That i just talked about. One of the steps in the whole impeachment coup, as his legal team has said. This is scary, what these guys are putting our country through. It is sad, it is scary, it is wrong. The good news is the American People see through it all. They know the facts are all on the president s side. As representative stefanik said, four facts will never change. We got the transcript, which they never thought the president would release. It shows nor could, no conditionality, no language. We got the guys in the call. President trump, president zelinski. No pressure, no pushing here. About the fact ukrainians didnt even know it was held up at the time of the call, and most important, we have yet to have one witness tell us that any evidence from anyone that president zelensky did anything on investigations to get the eight release. Those facts will never change. The facts on the president s side. The process is certainly not. It has been the most unfair process we have ever seen, and the American People understand that there was 63 million americans understand it. I think others do as well. To see this for what it is. They know this is wrong. Especially wrong just 11 months before the next election. I yield back. Mr. Welch . Thank you. What this hearing is about, i
think, whats best stated by Colonel Vindmans Opening Statement. The question before us is this is it improper for the president of the United States to demand a Foreign Government investigate the United States citizen and political opponents . It is very wellstated. I just listened to mr. Jordan, as you did, as well, and i heard his criticisms of the process. Nothing really happened. A lot of people are out to get the president. I didnt hear an answer to the question as to whether its proper for the president of the United States to demand a Foreign Government to investigate a u. S. Citizen and political opponent. And, to date, i havent heard any one of my republican colleagues address that questi question. Colonel vindman and ms. Williams, thank you. I want to ask some questions that go through the background. What has come out during this process is that we had two ukraine policies. One was bipartisan and longstanding. That was to assist ukraine, which had freed itself from the domination of russia, to fight corruption and to resist russian aggression. Is that a fair statement, Colonel Vindman . I think that is a fair characterization, congressman. And to give folks a reminder of the extent of corruption by the way, a legacy of putins russia. Is it your understanding that when the prior president fled to russia, into the arms of mr. Putin, he took with him for 30 to 40 billion of that impoverished country . There are different
estimates, but its on that scale, yes. A vast scale for a poor country. Is it your understanding that powerless but motivated ukrainians rose up in protest to this incredible graft and theft and abuse by the president . That is correct. And that was called the maidan revolution. The revolution of dignity. Correct . Correct. And young people went into that square in Downtown Kyiv and demonstrated for months. Correct . Correct. And 100 died. 106 young people died, and older people died. Correct . That was between february 18th, 2014 and february 22nd. Is that correct . Correct. 106 died, including people
who were shot by snipers. Kids. And yanukovych had put snipers on the rooftop of buildings to shoot into that square and kill, murder, slaughter those young people. Is that your understanding . That is correct. Our bipartisan support by the way, i want to say to mary public and colleagues, a lot of leadership to have this support came from your side. Thank you. But our whole commitment was to get rid of corruption and to stop that russian aggression. Is that correct . The amounts to some of the key pillars. Thats right. And the giuliana, sondland, and it appears current policy was not about that. It was about investigations into a political opponents. Correct . I will take the question back. We know it. You know, i will say this to President Trump. You want to investigate joe biden . You ought to investigate Huntern Cannot Go at it. Do it. Do it hard, do it dirty. Do it the way you do it. Just dont do it by asking a foreign leader to help you in your campaign. Thats your job, its not his. My goal in these hearings is two things. One is to get an answer to Colonel Vindmans question. The Second Coming out of this is for us as a congress to return to the ukraine policy that nancy pelosi and Kevin Mccarthy both support. Its not investigations. Its the restoration of democracy in ukraine, and the resistance of russian aggression. I yield back. Mr. Maloney . Thank you both for being he
here. You know, Lieutenant Colonel vindman, this might be one of your first congressional hearings like this. And i hope the last. [laughter] i cant blame you for feeling that way, sir. Particularly when ive been sitting here listening to my republican colleagues, one of the advantages of being down here at the kids table is that you get to hear the folks above you ask their questions. Ive been listening closely to my republican colleagues, and ive heard them say just about everything except to contradict any of the substantive testimony youve both given. You may have noticed theres been a lot of complaints, and theres been a lot of insinuations and a lot of suggestions, maybe, that your service is somehow not to be trusted. You were treated to questions about your loyalty because of some halfbaked job offer i guess the ukrainians made you,
which you of course dutifully reported. Mr. Castor is implying that you have some dual loyalty, which is of course an old smear weve heard many times in our history. Theyve tried to demean you as though maybe youve overstated your importance of your job, and of course you are the guy on the National Security council responsible for directing ukrainian policy. Weve heard them air out some allegations with no basis in proof, but they just want to get them out there and hope maybe some of those strands of spaghetti, i guess, well stick on the wall. They keep throwing them. Weve even had a member of this Committee Question this is my favorite question why you would wear your Dress Uniform today. Even though that Dress Uniform includes a breastplate that has a convent, Combat Infantry Badge On and a purple heart ribbon. It seems like if anybody gets to wear the uniform, it is somebody whos got a breastplate with those commendations on it. So, lets do it again. Lets do the substance. Can we do that connect because weve had a lot of dust kicked up. Ms. Williams, you heard the call with your own ears, right . Yes, sir. Not secondhand, not hearsay. You are the president speak. You heard his voice on the call. Correct. Your conclusion was what he said about investigating the bidens was, your words, unusual and inappropriate. In my right . That was my testimony. Mr. Vindman, you were treated to a July 25th Meeting where you heard ambassador sondland Raise Investigations that you thought were unduly political. I believe thats how you describe them. He went to nsc council and reported it. Correct . Correct. Later, you come too come around the copy you read it with your own ears. Correct. Not secondhand, not from somebody else, not hearsay. Correct. You heard the voice of the president on the call. I did. You heard him raise what ambassador sondland andries
before, about investigating the bidens. I did. When you heard him say that, was the first thought that went through your mind . Frankly, i couldnt believe what i was hearing. It was probably an element of shock. That maybe in certain regards my worst fear of how our ukraine policy could play out was playing out. How this is likely to have significant implications for u. S. National security. And he went immediately and reported it, didnt you . I did. Why . Because that was my duty. You still have your Opening Statement and he . I do. Would you read the last paragraph for megan . Not the very last one, the second to last one. Would you read that again for me . I think the American Public deserves to hear it again. I think my dad would appreciate that one, too. Dad, my sitting here today in the u. S. Capitol and talking to
our elected officials as proof you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the soviet union and come here to the United States of america in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry i will be fine for telling the truth. You realize when you came forward out of sense of duty that you are putting yourself in direct opposition to the most powerful person