policy in ukraine. on this record, there is a legitimate basis for president trump to have concern about hunter biden's role on burisma's board. the prospect that some senior ukrainian officials worked against president trump in the run-up to the 2,016 election draws an even more visceral reaction from most democrats. let me say very, very clearly that election interference is not binary. i am not saying that it was ukraine and not russia. i am saying that both countries can work to influence an election. a systemic coordinated russian interference effort does not mean that some ukrainian officials did not work to oppose president trump's candidacy. did not make statements against president trump. during the election. ambassador volker testified in his public hearing that it is possible for one more country to seek interference. dr. hale testified likewise that her public hearing contemporaneous news articles and 26 he noted how president trump's candidacy led to wider political leadership to do somethi

said ukraine is court interest in a way that is not for the united states he noted that since ukraine does not belong to nato, it is vulnerable to russian military domination that we have to be very clear about what our core interests are and what we're going to do to go to war quote unquote. hard to dispute these point they point out but the the president set up a straw man that presidenting being obama. united states could have done more to help resist the carell kremlin aggression with that war with russia here we have the new york times and this is dated june 2015 with the peace process stalled and violation escalating in ukraine a coalition in congress so defying obama for pressing administration to provide weapons to em balingsed nations. the push for lawmakers to arm yiewg crane arm forces, threaten to open a rip between the united states and key ally especially germany and france germany about -- ring a bell what's the president say according to ran johnson, hell germany needs to step up to help pay too at a time when obama administration is working to demonstrate unified supp

castor, ukraine company burisma held a reputation in ukraine is a corrupt company. is that correct? >> big time. >> according to "the new york times," hunter biden was part of a bribe effort by burisma to bring in well-connected democrats during a period when the company was facing investigations. is that correct? >> yes. the new yorker also had a pretty extensive report on that too. >> obama's deputy assistant secretary of state george kent testified that he raised concerns directly to vice president biden's office about hunter biden's services on sondland burisma's board. is that correct? >> yes. >> mr. castor, on the july 25th call we all saw the video earlier today. were joe biden bragged about he told ukraine, if the prosecutor is not fired, you aren't getting the money. mr. castor, is this the same prosecutor that looked into burisma? >> it is. >> in a similar scheme, obama's assistant attorney general said, and i quote, awarding prestigious employment opportunities to unqualified individuals in order to influence government officials is corruption. plain and simple. mr. casto

russia ukraine command drome and by that i mean economic ties between russia and ukraine. publicly a warm but privately cold and distant relationship between ukraine and the e.u. the nature of the mutual commitments etc all these host of issues that precipitated the conflict in the 1st place. that's very difficult because on the one hand you write the whole ukrainian disaster. was a product of the relationship between russia and ukraine ukraine the us on the same time. on the stage who are now. you cannot start with the global big and say ok let's discuss. and then the university can just start with the e.u. for example could start with having an honest conversation about the ukraine and discuss whether ukraine will ever be part of the e.u. what ukraine is getting from the association agreement whether ukraine once you have some sort of economic relationship with russia i mean we don't need to start big i mean those are issues that directly a fact lives of everyday people yeah you know it would be great unfortunately in this particular case i'm afraid that no one. those in

ukraine. they seized a part of that country called crimea for themselves. they declared henceforth crimea would be part of russia, not ukraine. russia also invaded and started occupying big swaths of eastern ukraine beyond crimea. and to this day russia still claims crimea is there, and they are still waging a war and occupying the eastern part of ukraine. when russia first did that in 2014 it was seen as a really big freaking deal on the world stage. it was the first time another country had seized another country in europe since the end of world war ii. and when russia did that the world reacted as if it was that big a deal because it was. they would make the group of 8 instead the group of 7, the g-7. russia got hit with serious international sanctions, sanction that got even more intense after the russian occupied forces in eastern ukraine slot a civilian airliner out of the sky. that was a totally innocent, totally random commercial passenger, a boeing 777, full of dutch citizens and mala

you know ukraine well, i'll imagine you have involvement with ukraine? ukraine is one of our biggest countries of operation, very good to see you, by the way. we invest about 1 billion euros per year, i will be there in kyiv this coming friday. what do you make of this meeting today? you have got to individuals, the very experienced latimer putin, president of russia, and volodymyr zelensky, not long an office in ukraine. and not long on politics! yes, he was an actor, anybody who has seen his comedy programme will no doubt laugh at it. there are major signs from france and germany that they would like to try to see whether it is possible to resolve this five—year—old dispute, the invasion and the operations that took place in crimea and eastern ukraine, to see if there is a possibility of attempting to bring these two sides, russia and ukraine, together in some sort of agreement. that will be tough, and i think that will be tough. both sides, for different reasons, will find it hard to reach a peace settlement, but i think on the other hand these ar

was still supporting ukraine and for his own credibility as a new president you'll hear then to ramp up the press pressure what president trumped it is he told his agencies to withhold military and security aid that had been approved and was supposed to be released to ukraine hundreds of millions of dollars in order to put more pressure on ukraine all the agencies involved state department offense department national security council said it should be released it had been approved it was going to be released until president trump personally stopped it and again contemporaneous evidence of documents showing and proven people said that they were shocked and basser taylor said he was in astonishment it witness said that it was illogical to do this and the president never offered an explanation but ultimately it was discovered why he did it. then on the july 25th call president trouble's explicitly told them he wanted to conduct he wanted him to do to ukrainian investigations one of a u.s. citizen and his political rival and the other about the origins of the interference in the 2016 ele

ukraine. it's important to set the record straight oboe what is taking place in ukraine and the challenges you face internal and external the nato summit just happened a week ago and within the nato summit statement the open door policy remaining open i know that's a priority of yours. so we would go deeper into some of these challenging issues. but also those that are incredibly important and have been for the united states somebody working on it in and outside of government watching ukraine be successful to build on the desires and when president zelensky won in a landslide election he made sure to resolve the conflict in the east but tackle corruption and i have heard you talk here about where ukraine is going serving in several different governments over the past year as a diplomat i didn't read your full bio because of timing but you worked with a number of governments of how different this government is in terms of generation and focus. so hopefully he will touch on that were excited to

for ukraine. biden has no specific governance expertise and we don't believe he speaks ukrainian or russian. we don't believe he moved there. so he's getting this gigantic paycheck for what? the washington potion wrote at the time of biden's appointment to burisma's board that it look looked nepotismic at best. according to "the wall street journal," anti-corruption activists in ukraine also raised concerns that the former vp's son received money from zlochevsky. witnesses in the impeachment inquiry noted hunter biden's role on the board and how it presented at minimum a conflict of interest. lieutenant colonel vindman testified hunter biden appeared not qualified to serve on burisma's board. witnesses testified that hunter biden's role on the board was a legitimate concern to raise in fact, george kent explained in 2015 he raised a concern to the office of former vice president biden that hunter biden's role on burisma's board presented a potential conflict of interest. however, hunter biden's ro

they took crimea from ukraine and supported separatist in eastern ukraine. he needed that military aid desperately from the trump administration. offensive weapons that have been withheld by president obama and then offered by the trump administration. but the alleged quid quo pro was he was not able to get that aid until he agreed to investigate the 2016 campaign and the bidens. political investigations that would be very helpful to president trump's re-election effort and according to the testimony as presented again, a recap today from the intelligence committee. this investigation didn't even have to take place. it just had to be announced so it was publicly reportable and that rudy giuliani rather than the state department was the point person for all of this, organizing this sort of parallel effort. that is the allegation of the democrats of which they say is an impeachable offense and abuse of power and key witnesses such as mike pompeo and others would not be able to testify and not furnish key documents as well. all of this being presented as now ze

are turning away from from steadfast support if ukraine where do you see ukraine's our eyes right now. actually who says it is out in several days because who would be. e.u. e.u. meeting which will decide on continuation of the so-called sec that all sentient is against russian to settle sanctions are connected with implementation of means it greenness and from what i understand this centuries will be continued for the next half a year however if we analyze that international city asian is not too bad a favorable for ukraine because mccormack is making too much you know prashant statements to to have business as usual ways rosher and he's not very experienced in these kind of negotiations normandy for merkel is much more experienced definitely and by the way i believe today there was a statement from berlin said the ukraine face already done unilateral concessions in order to move forwards in negotiations and now it's time for russia to make adequate concessions from the russian side regarding clown definitely there is a scandal in ze united states so as there is a threat to the proce

we just need fair, balanced look on what ukraine has accomplished, where ukraine stands and where ukraine is moving. and on all three points i believe we have no fundamental differences with the united states. ukraine is a natural ally of the united states in the world. its global struggle for power that we are observing now. ukraine is part of this, part of the world. we share same principles, same values. we stand for the same things. and we never compromised the united states since independence in 1991. and we cannot imagine the horror where the united states will compromise us. i had very friendly meetings in washington over last two days. maybe i meeting wrong people, but my overall sense is that the reason understanding this year that ukraine has to be treated fairly, that's what i can say on this. what are our request. what this kind of our agenda? we want to be in a position of the country always ask for help. we want to build relationship. i was happy to read an article in news of an american rocket carrying cargo to international space station, and part of that engine of the roc

ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch testified that in ukraine, and i quote, corruption is not just prevalent, but frankly is the system. is that correct? >> yes. all of the witnesses confirmed the environment as very corrupt. >> mr. castor, ukraine energy company burisma holdings had a reputation as a corrupt company, is that correct. >> big time. >> according to "the new york times," hunter biden was paut of a broad effort by burisma to bring in a period when the company was facing investigations, is that correct. >> the new yorker had a extensive report on that as well. >> obama's deputy assistant -- obama's deputy assistant secretary of state george kent testified he raised concerns directly to vice president biden's office about hunter biden's services on burisma's bords is that correct, yes or no? >> yes. >> mr. castor, in the july 25th call president trump referenced joe biden bragging about how he stopped the prosecution. we all saw that video earlier today. where joe biden bragged about how he told ukraine if the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. mr. ca

are turning away from from steadfast support if ukraine where do you see ukraine's our eyes right now. actually who says it is out in several days because who would be. e.u. e.u. meeting which will decide on continuation of the so-called sec that all sentient is against russian to settle sanctions are connected with implementation of means it greenness and from what i understand this centuries will be continued for the next half a year however if we analyze the international situation is not too bad a favorable for ukraine because macaron is making too much you know prashant statements to to have business as usual ways that asha and he's not very experienced in these kind of negotiations normandy for merkel is much more experienced definitely and by the way i believe today there was a statement from berlin said the ukraine 1st already done unilateral concessions in order to move forwards in negotiations and now it's time for russia to make adequate concessions from the russian side regarding clown definitely there is a scandal in ze united states so as there is a threat to the process

ukraine. they seized a part of that country called crimea for themselves. they declared henceforth crimea would be part of russia, not ukraine. russia also invaded and started occupying big swaths of eastern ukraine beyond crimea. and to this day russia still claims crimea is there, and they are still waging a war and occupying the eastern part of ukraine. when russia first did that in 2014 it was seen as a really big freaking deal on the world stage. it was the first time another country had seized another country in europe since the end of world war ii. and when russia did that the world reacted as if it was that big a deal because it was. they would make the group of 8 instead the group of 7, the g-7. russia got hit with serious international sanctions, sanctions that got even more intense after the russian occupied forces in eastern ukraine shot a civilian airliner out of the sky. that was a totally innocent, totally random commercial passenger, a boeing 777, full of dutch citizens and mal

policy in ukraine. on this record there is a legitimateco basis for presiden trump to have concern about hunternc biden's role on burisms board. the prospect that some senior ukrainian officials worked against president trump in the runup to the 2016 election draws an even more visceral reaction from most democrats. let me say very, very clearly that election interference is not binary. i'm not saying that it was ukraine and not russia. i'm saying that both countries can work to influence an election. a systemic coordinated russian interference effort does not meanff that some ukrainian officials, some ukrainian officials did not work to oppose president trump's candidacy, did not make statements against president trump during the election. ambassador volker testified in his public hearing that it is possible forng more than one country to seek influence in u.s. elections. dr. hill testified likewise at her public hearing. contemporaneous news articles in 2016 noted how president trump's candidacy led k

is russia a lot of people in ukraine are angry about this. it's. my personal take on this but at the end of the day. it's a shock remis korea and the occupation is temporary but the crimea back to ukraine this case framed inherit this. huge piece of infrastructure you held for any maybe an earlier story to you're going to got a lot to think about that a lot to comment on as well through this program picked out of it you heard what ilya had to say i mean from the russian perspective this is yet another you might say infrastructure success for the president but in recent weeks in the sort of state of the union the end of year address he did talk about the fact didn't he in his address to the russian people but there were problems with the economy there were problems with corruption and so i wonder how russian people would actually take the opening of this bridge i mean do they do they see it as something they can take pride in or is it just an unnecessary expense. well of course crimea has a long history of both with russia and ukraine for hundreds o

we just need fair, balanced look on what ukraine has accomplished, where ukraine stands and where ukraine is moving. and on all three points i believe we have no fundamental differences with the united states. ukraine is a natural ally of the united states in the world. its global struggle for power that we are observing now. ukraine is part of this, part of the world. we share same principles, same values. we stand for the same things. and we never compromised the united states since independence in 1991. and we cannot imagine the horror when the united states will compromise us. i had very friendly beatings in washington over last two two c. maybe i meeting wrong people, but my overall sense is that the reason understanding this year that ukraine has to be treated fairly, that's what i can say is. what are our request. what this kind of our agenda? we want to be in a position of the country always ask for help. we want to build relationship. i was happy to read an article in dues of an american rocket carrying cargo to international space station, and part of that engine of the rocket i

now they are accusing ukraine. in the face of evidence not only for an intelligencfrom intelligy experts that his own national security team that russia, not ukraine interfered in the 2016 elections for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory and why, because it would help his own political standing. president trump even sought to withhold an oval office meeting from the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin lies. the leader that actually invaded ukraine.th the second demand president trump made during the july 25 call was to investigate the front-runner for the democratic nomination for president in 2020. president in 2020. former vice president joe biden and his son, hunter. president trump stated the other thing, there's a lot of talk about his son that he stops the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out abouter that. so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be gr

policy in ukraine. on this record, there is a legitimate basis that president trump to have concern about hunter biden's role on burisma's board. the prospect of some senior ukrainian official worked against president trump in the run-up to the 2016 election draws a visceral reaction from most democrats. let me say very, very clearly, election interference is not binary. i am not saying it was ukraine and not russia, i am saying that both countries can work to influence an election. a systemic coordinated russian interference effort does not mean that some ukrainian officials, some ukrainian officials did not work to oppose president trump's candidacy. that it did not make statements against president trump during the election. ambassador volker testified in his public hearing it is possible for more than one country to seek influence in more than one election. doctor hill testified likewise after public hearing contemporary noo news articles d how president trump's candidacy led wider political leaders

are turning away from from steadfast support if ukraine where do you see ukraine's our eyes right now. actually who says it is out in several days because there would be. e.u. e.u. meeting which will decide on continuation of the so-called sec that all sentients against russia and this settle sanctions are connected with implementation of means it greenness and from what i understand this centuries will be continued for the next half a year however if we analyze the international situation is not too bad a favorable for ukraine because mccormack is making too much you know prashant statements to to have business as usual. and he's not very experienced in these kind of negotiations normandy for merkel is much more experienced definitely and by the way i believe today there was a statement from berlin said the ukraine 1st already done unilateral concessions in order to move forwards in negotiations and now it's time for russia to make adequate concessions from the russian side they've got in town definitely there is a scandal in ze united states so as there is a threat to the process in

now they're accusing ukraine. in the face of clear evidence, not only from intelligence community experts, but from his own national security team that russia, not ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory. why? because it would help his own political standing. president trump even saukt sought to with hold an oval office meeting from the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin's lies. the leader who actually invaded ukraine. the second demand that president trump made of president zelensky during the july 25th call was to investigate the front-runner for the democratic nomination for president in 2020. former vice president joe biden. and his son hunter. president trump stated -- the other thing, there's 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 t

i believe is harmful to us ukraine relations ukraine is being dragged through the political mud there are all sorts of efforts to try to connect ukraine which is unacceptable to interference in the 2016 election so there is some worried that that there is a breakdown of some of that bipartisan support but what i have seen over the last several weeks is both sides the aisle and washington stepped up to support that relationship i can't speak to the future with with regards to president trump he has a penchant for for doing things one day and then doing the other the other day. frankly many of us here don't understand what his relationship truly is with president vladimir putin but the most important thing that we have seen over the last several weeks is strong support again for ukraine this includes assistance and just before the negotiations took place 2 senior u.s. officials from the state department went out to kiev to ensure kiev that the u.s. stands firmly behind the. time we ask you about. this could be one of her final opportunities to mediate to be a peace maker do you get that

in ukraine. the conflict inside ukraine not the conflict between ukraine and russia issues like for example crimea are completely off the agenda now they there were a series of meetings there was an important agreement that was agreed in minsk in 2015 which was supposed to take the process further but of course what has happened is that poroshenko and he's government in ukraine refused to implement minsk the the minsk agreement that was reached vali this group is normandy for group which is supposed to be the way forward in the park way towards peace in ukraine the result is that the conflict has been frozen there was a further meeting between this group in october. of 2016 in paris which sort of tweaked the parkway further but that has again fails to change anything on the ground but then this year we've seen a complete change of power in ukraine a new president and this is why all this group has now come together and then there's now a reputed impetus towards peace when the entire geopolitical

why should they care about ukraine? first of all, this is not about ukraine. this is about our democracy. this is about our national security. this is about whether the american people have a right to expect that the president of the united states is going to act in their interests, with their security in mind, and not for some ill list personal or -- some illicit personal or political reason. so americans should care deeply about whether the president of the united states is betraying their trust in him. betraying that oath that he took to the constitution to protect our country. and defend its institutions. so, we should care about this. we must care about this. and if we don't care about this, we can darn well be assured the president will be back at it, doing this all over again. because indeed, he already has. first, there was the invitation to russia to interfere in our last election, russia, if you're listening, hack hillary's emails, and indeed, later that day, they tried to do exactly that. but then there was the use of this official power to compel a

was reporting ukraine -- supporting ukraine and his own credibility. whatill hear that president trump did is he told his agencies to withhold military and security aid that had been approved and was supposed to be released to ukraine. hundreds of millions of dollars in order to put more pressure on ukraine. , state agencies involved department, defense department, national security council said it should be released, it had been approved until president trump personally stopped it. extent rainey's documents show it. people say they were -- extemporaneous documents show it. people say they were shocked. the president never offered an explanation. ultimately it was discovered why he did it. ,hen on the july 25 call president trump explicitly told him he wanted him to do two ukrainian investigations. one of a u.s. citizen and his political rival and the other about the origins of the interference in the 2016 election, a conspiracy theory that russia, who all intelligence agencies agreed, interfered with the 2016 election, that maybe it was ukraine. inves

nower accusing ukraine. in the face of clear evidence, not only from intelligence community experts but from his own national security team that russia, not ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory. and why? because it would help his own political standing. president trump even sought to withhold an oval office meeting from the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin's lies. the leader, who had actually invaded ukraine. the second demand that president trump made of president zelensky during the july 25th call was to investigate the front-runner for the democratic nomination for president in 2020. former vice president joe biden and his son hunter. president trump stated, the other thing. 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 t

are turning away from from steadfast support if ukraine where do you see ukraine's our eyes right now. actually who says it is out in several days because who would be. e.u. e.u. meeting which will decide on continuation of the so-called sec that all sentient is against russian to settle sentients are connected with implementation of means it remains and from what i understand this centuries will be continued for next half a year however if we analyze that international city asian is not too bad a favorable for ukraine because mccormick is making too much you know prashant statements to to have business as usual ways that asha and he's not very experienced in these kind of negotiations normandy for merkel is much more experienced definitely and by the way i believe today there was a statement from berlin said the ukraine 1st already done unilateral concessions in order to move forwards in negotiations and now it's time for russia to make adequate concessions from the russian side regarding crown definitely there is a scandal in ze united states so as there is a threat to the process i

for ukraine. agreement. was an agreement to stop war it was a very big war which ukraine was about to lose and they signed this agreement which from. that's argument that they don't have to fulfill it because it was signed under duress. argument not to fulfill them and president poroshenko. and. ukraine have no choice but that was a product of very complicated circumstances now on the one hand sometimes it looks like a deadlock in the same time why all sides stick to the there is no other framework to go if. agreement form then nothing else is left and that risk for a new war it will be one time now the russian ukrainian relationship has 2. major components economic and security i want to start with economic and i'm sure you would agree with me that in addition to solving the conflict in this to me ukraine russia and ukraine now has a much more accurate. dispute to settle i'm talking about the expiration of the gas transit contract the contract for transiting russian gas to the european union and what i find

russia ukraine germany and france meet in paris to tackle ukraine's internal divisions are there reasons for optimism and impeachment are the democrats secretly scheming to have actually reelected. cross talking some real news i'm joined by my guest here in moscow dimitri bobbitt she's a political analyst and editor at innocent me internet media project and in london we crossed alexander macarius he's a writer on legal affairs as well as editor in chief of the duran dot com our gentlemen crossed up rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate let's go to london 1st alex we have. normandy format as they're calling it of course this is about the internal divisions and problems of ukraine the media falsely characterizes it russia against the ukraine that's not it at all as a mystification from the media this is an internal ukrainian problem and outside powers are trying to help mediate it what is the normandy format it's called normandy for and where does it come from and what is it trying to achieve go ahead alex. yes is called normandy for because it

with your 2020 priorities you mention economics as critical to ukraine and that's true but with the ukraine economy there are couple of areas that you are focused on in to look at the government's priorities in 2020. >> you can mention a few of them. the list is so long it was exhausting. you may not know that ukraine that you cannot buy and sell land freely. there is no market. privatization ukrainian state owns 3000 enterprises with those of strategic importance from national security. and then has taken the necessary steps to launch the process of privatization and to develop those as commercial enterprises. and not sucking money from the state budget. energy security. energy efficiency. for us, security and efficiency is a matter of national survival because a neighbor who wants to create problems for us and i can be pretty effective. one of the most energy consuming economies. we can save a lot of money if we systemically introduce those measures throughout 2020 and the financials. the national currency is appreciating and becoming stronger and stronger and it makes our exporters mad b

i believe is harmful to us ukraine relations ukraine is being dragged through the political maad there are all sorts of efforts to try to connect ukraine which is unacceptable to interference in the 2016 election so there is some worried that that there is a breakdown of some of that bipartisan support but what i have seen over the last several weeks is both sides the aisle and washington stepped up to support that relationship i can't speak to the future with with regards to president trump he has a penchant for for doing things one day and then doing the other the other day. frankly many of us here don't understand what his relationship truly is with president vladimir putin but the most important thing that we have seen over the last several weeks is strong support again for ukraine this includes assistance and just before the negotiations took place 2 senior u.s. officials from the state department went out to kiev to ensure kiev that the u.s. stands firmly behind them. just before we run out of time to ask you about. this could be one of her final opportunities to mediate to be a

where ukraine stands and where ukraine is moving. on all three points i believe we have no fundamental differences with the united states. ukraine is a natural ally of the united states in the world. in the global struggle for power that we are observing now, ukraine is part of this part of the world. we share same principles, same values, we stand for the same things. and we never compromised the united states since our independence in 1991. and we cannot imagine horror where the united states will compromise us. i have very friendly meetings in washington over the last two days. maybe i was meeting the wrong people. my overall sense is that the reason understanding in d.c. that ukraine has to be treated fairly. that's what i can say on this. what are our requests? what are our agenda? we don't want to be in the position of, you know, the country always asks for help. we want to build relationship. i was happy to read an article and use of american rocket carrying cargo to international space station and part of that the engine of t

i believe is harmful to us ukraine relations ukraine is being dragged through the political mud there are all sorts of efforts to try to connect ukraine which is unacceptable to interference in the 2016 election so there is some worry that that there is a breakdown of some of that bipartisan support but what i've seen over the last several weeks is both sides the aisle and washington step up to support that relationship i can't speak to the future with with regards to president trump he has a penchant for for doing things one day and then doing the other the other day. frankly many of us here don't understand what his relationship truly is with president vladimir putin but the most important thing that we have seen over the last several weeks is strong support again for ukraine this includes assistance and just before the negotiations took place 2 senior u.s. officials from the state department went out to kiev to ensure kiev that the u.s. stands firmly behind them. before we run out of time to me ask you about. this could be one of her final opportunities to mediate to be a peace mak

i believe is harmful to us ukraine relations ukraine is being dragged through the political maad there are all sorts of efforts to try to connect ukraine which is unacceptable to interference in the 2016 election so there is some worried that that there is a breakdown of some of that bipartisan support but what i have seen over the last several weeks is both sides the aisle and washington stepped up to support that relationship i can't speak to the future with with regards to president trump he has a penchant for for doing things one day and then doing the other the other day. frankly many of us here don't understand what his relationship truly is with president vladimir putin but the most important thing that we have seen over the last several weeks is strong support again for ukraine this includes assistance and just before the negotiations took place 2 senior u.s. officials from the state department went out to kiev to ensure kiev that the u.s. stands firmly behind them. just before we run out of time we ask you about. this could be one of her final opportunities to mediate to be a

the next is ukraine was not pressured. and the argument about that is, well, today they haven't said they were pressured. well, ukraine was pressured then and still is pressured. they are desperately in need of the united states' support as they battle the threat of russia. so of course they have to be careful what they said but contemperaneous documents, e-mails, texts from the ukrainian officials, themselves, show the pressure they felt. show they knew what president eyo do.as doing, showed what this is one from bill taylor to, again, ambassador gordon sondland and kurt volker. gordon, one thing kurt and i talked about yesterday was sasha danylluk a senior aide of president zelensky's point that president zelensky is sensitive about ukraine being taken seriously not merely an instrument in washington domestic re-election politics. they not only felt the pressure they got the message. they were not going to get a white house meeting. they were ultimately not going to get military aid unless they furthered president trump'

both to the people of ukraine but as equally important to russia, that the united states has ukraine's back in its conflict with a nation which invaded its territory. the military assistance is also absolutely essential. as president zelensky goes into negotiations with vladimir putin, the fact that the united states is providing substantial military assistance approved on a bipartisan basis by congress is enormously important. the withholding of that aid even for a period of time sends a disastrous message to friend and foe alike that the united states does not have the back of itsal li ally. these were things ukraine desperately wanted and needed, and at the same time president trump desperately wanted and that he thought he needed was an investigation that he feared the most, rival joe biden, as well as an investigation into a debunked conspiracy theory it was ukraine, not russia, that interfered in our last election now, that conspiracy thy, which is often summarized or characterized by the term crowdstrike that conspiracy theory is a russian narrative. that is a conspiracy theory

here it is important to note ukraine's long profound history of endemic corruption several witnesses in the inquiry have testified about these problems ambassador marie yvonne of each for example said ukraine's corruption is not just prevalent but frankly is the system witnesses testified to having firsthand knowledge that president trump is deeply skeptical of ukraine due to its corruption back years and that this skepticism contributed to president trump's initial has its to meet with president selenski. ambassador volcker testified so i know he had a very deep rooted skeptical view and my understanding at the time was that even though he agreed in the meeting that we had with him say ok i'll invite him i'll invite him he didn't really want to do it volcker said and that's why the meeting kept getting delayed another relevant set of facts here is the effort of some ukrainian officials to approach president trump's candidacy in the 2016 election some of these ukrainian politicians initially remained in government when presidents alinsky took over witnesses testified that these ukrai

goldman, withholding aid from ukraine, obviously, hurts ukraine. it hurts the united states. does it help any country? >> the witnesses said that that would help russia. >> did you also hear testimony that these acts by the president, while being wrong and an abuse of power, also harmed u.s. national security? >> yes. >> did youna hear anything abou how it would harm our credibility, i would turn you to a conversation volker had on september 14th of this year where ambassador volker semipressing upon that official that president zelensky should not investigate his own political opponents? what was thrown back in the face of ambassador volker? >> after video volker suggested to mr. yermak again who's here, that they should not investigate the prior president of ukraine, mr. yermak said back to him, oh, like we -- you're encouraging us to investigate the bidens and clintons? >> during watergate, the famous phrase from senator howard baker was asked, what did the president know and when did he know it? there's a reason that no one here has repeated those questions during these h

sondland had just come to the ukraine on the 26th. he met with president zelensky. he went to a restaurant with mr. holmes, the u.s. affairs counselor in ukraine and he called president trump on his cell phone and mr. holmes could hear that call and he spoke to mr. sondland. let's see what happened on july 26th, the day after that call. >> i heard ambassador sondland greet the president andi explai he was calling from kyiv. i heard president trump clarify that the ambassador was in ukraine. he relied, yes, he was in ukraine, and stated that president zelensky, quote, loves your ass. i then heard president trump ask, so he's going to do the investigation? ambassador sondland replied that he's going to do it, adding that president zelensky will do anything you ask him to do. >> that is sworn testimony by david holmes who heard it from the president himself, and it was clear to everyone the most experienced people in government who donald trump himself appointed in their positions, they knew what was going on. let's look at a text messag

the server, they say ukraine has it. and then this. there's a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution. a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. now we have rudy giuliani with what appears to be the very first time someone explicitly linked the ambassador's removal to those bogus investigations. that seems like a pretty big deal, doesn't it, right? the president's attorney admitting he wanted the ambassador out of the way so he could get the investigations the president wanted, admitting it right after his return from yet another sketchy mission to ukraine. seems like something the president would want to hear all about, doesn't it? >> how much has giuliani shared with you about his recent trip to ukraine? >> oh, not too much. >> not too much? >> not too much? i thought he had a whole lot. let's remember "the wall street journal" reported friday that while giuliani was on his way back from ukraine, while his plane was still taxiing down the ru

in ukraine. the conflict inside ukraine not the conflict between ukraine and russia issues like for example crimea are completely off the agenda now they there were a series of meetings there was an important agreement that was agreed in minsk in 2015 which was supposed to take the process further but of course what has happened is that poroshenko and he's government in ukraine refused to implement minsk the the minsk agreement that was reached vali this group is normandy full group which is supposed to be the way forward with the partway towards peace in ukraine the result is that the conflict has been frozen there was a further meeting between this group in october. of 2016 in paris which sort of tweaked the parkway further but that has again faye olds to change anything on the ground but then this year we've seen a complete change of our ukraine a new president and this is why all this glue has now come together and then there's now a reputed impetus towards peace with the entire geopolitical

he says new president of o ukraine. still silent on investigation of ukrainian interference in 2016 election and alleged biden bribery of the prior president and again, sir, as you said, the ukrainians giuliani has the ear of his client, president trump, isn't that correct, sir? yes or no. >> the, you know, giuliani was doing some things you know out here and then he became involved with the official channel with volcker, with sondland. and at that meeting on july 19th, volcker counseled against the per spspective julian area taking. >> what they're talking about, let me ask you, mr. goldman, this tweet, is that referring to a personal political issue of president trump or official u.s. policy? >> that's a personal political issue. if you don't mind, i'll just take a moment to respond to mr. castor. on that july 19th meeting between volcker and rudy giuliani, ambassador volcker told mr. giuliani that the allegations about joe biden were completely bogus and wrong and mr. giuliani actually told according to ambassador vo

why should they care about ukraine? first of all, this is not about ukraine. this is about our democracy. this is about our national security. this is about whether the american people have a right to expect that the president of the united states is going to act in their interests work their security in mind, and not for some ill list personal or political reason. so americans should care deeply about whether the president of the united states is betraying their trust in him. betraying that oath that he took to the constitution to protect our country. and defend its institutions. so we should care about this. we must care about this. and if we don't care about this, we can darn well be assured the president will be back at it, doing this all over again. because indeed, he already has. first there was the invitation to russia to interfere in our last election, russia, if you're listening, hack hillary's emails, and later that day they tried to do exactly that but then there was the use of this official power to compel another country, ukraine, to interfere in

from russia ukraine germany and france meet in paris to tackle ukraine's internal divisions are there reasons for optimism and impeachment are the democrats secretly scheming to have actually reelected. cross talking some real news i'm joined by my guest here in moscow dmitri bobbitt she's a political analyst and editor at innocent me internet media project and in london we crossed alexander be curious he's a writer on legal affairs as well as editor in chief of the duran dot com our gentlemen crossed up rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate let's go to london 1st alex we have. normandy format as they're calling it of course this is about the internal divisions and problems of ukraine the media falsely characterize it russia against the ukraine that's not it at all as a mystification from the media this is an internal ukrainian problem and outside powers are trying to help mediate it what is the normandy format it's called normandy for and where does it come from and what is it trying to achieve go ahead alex. yes it's called moment before

he was in ukraine. the ambassador said yes, he was in ukraine and went on to state that president zelensky, quote, loves your ass. i then heard president trump ask, so he's going to do the investigation? ambassador sondland replied that he's going to do it, adding that president zelensky will do anything you ask him to do. >> that is sworn testimony by david holmes who heard it from the president himself. and it was clear to everyone, the most experienced people in government who donald trump himself appointed in their positions, they knew what was going on. let's look at a text message from ambassador taylor around this time on september 9th. he said, as i said on the phone, i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. again, that is president trump putting his own political and personal interests over the nation's interests, to hold aid desperately needed by ukraine in order to combat russia and show the support. he did it to help his own campaign. now, there

ambassador to ukraine and the former permanent ambassador to ukraine texted ambassador sohn and volker rather he stated in his testimony on july 20th i had a phone conversation with mr donnelly uk during which he conveyed to me that president selenski did not want to be used as a pawn in a u.s. reelection campaign. but president trump's pressure campaign on president selenski did not relent just 4 days later president selenski received that message via kurt volker that he needed to convince president trump that he would do the investigations in order to get that white house meeting and as i have described president does that selenski tried to do exactly that on the july 25th call with president trump in the weeks following the july 25th call president selenski he did president trump's request sending his top aide mr year moch to madrid to meet with mr giuliani in coordination with mr giuliani president and the president trumps handpicked representatives they continued ape this pressure campaign to secure a public announcement of the investigations now according to ambassador sandlin an

castor, ukraine energy company burisma holdings had a reputation in ukraine as a corrupt company. is that correct? >> big time. >> according to "new york times," hunter biden was part of a broad effort by burisma to bring in well-connected democratsec during a period whe the company was facing investigations. is that correct? >> yeah. "the new yorker" also had a pretty extensive report on that, as well. >> obama's deputy assistant secretary of state, george kent, testified that he raised concerns directly to vice president biden's office about hunter bibiden's services on burisma's erboard. is that correct? yes or no? >> yes. >> mr. castor, in the july 25th call, president trump referenced joe biden bragging about how he stopped the prosecution. we all saw that video earlier today. where joe biden bragged about how he told ukraine, if the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. mr. castor, is this the same prosecutor that looked into burisma? >> it is.me >> in a similar scheme, obama assistant attorney general said, and i quote, awarding prestigious employment oppor

i mean the russian gas is an existential matter for ukraine and europe because simply ukraine doesn't produce enough gas of example the e.u. for example or are our most of europe russia and norway are as far as i know i stand could be correct on this the only 2 countries that are you know producing more than they need i'm going to florida exports of norway can't. heat the entire continent so you know it's abuse of major issue for everybody if ukraine i'm not sure it is a deal breaker in the concerts tonight i mean if putin were able to willing to give some concessions on gas perhaps some price for example it might help soften the blow for a senate seat but the problem as well is that the western. partners as he would put it who are keeping ukraine financially afloat should the i.m.f. part of their program is that they insist on market prices for gas so if she was made to offer a discount i'm not sure how those. actors would respond of course as i said ukraine is relying on them to to basically i keep a roof over his head for magic and how much influence do you think the french and ger