Special Envoy to Ukraine resigns

[essentialsaltes]

Kurt Volker, US special envoy to Ukraine, has resigned one day after the release of a whistleblower report alleging a coverup by the White House of a call between President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President, three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.

Volker was named in the report. The State Department has not returned messages seeking comment.

CNN previously reported that Zelensky had joked with Volker about Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney who is also a key player in the scandal, before the phone call was made.


Volker later set up a meeting between Giuliani, who had been interested in getting Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, and a Zelensky adviser in an effort to get the Biden matter out of official talks.

There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.

 

[Kentonio]

Interesting timing given he’s on the new list for congressional interview.

 

[Nithavela]

 

[KCfromNC]

Interesting timing given he’s on the new list for congressional interview.

Guess no one can claim executive privilege if he's no longer a member of the executive branch.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Guess no one can claim executive privilege if he's no longer a member of the executive branch.

I think it must apply retroactively to any relevant period. Like I think some of the other fine people of Trump's acquaintance could be asked about the campaign, but not their time in the WH. Even after they were already fired.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Pompeo’s plan appears to have backfired. Despite the secretary’s efforts to block several of his current and former officials from speaking to Congress, Volker is set to go to Capitol Hill on Thursday with the backing of a cadre of current and former diplomats. Some of those diplomats spoke to The Daily Beast and requested anonymity because they feared reprisals from Pompeo and other Trump administration officials.

Now the department is bracing for impact. Current and former State Department officials who spoke to The Daily Beast, some of who are close to Volker, said he was forced out of his post. Volker’s interview with Congress could lay bare details of Pompeo’s involvement in the Trump-Giuliani Ukraine saga.

(see also: Pompeo potentially retaliating against or otherwise spreading misinformation about State Department employees wrt Ukraine.)

 

[essentialsaltes]

Kurt Volker: Diplomat never 'fully on the Trump train' set to appear as first witness in Ukraine probe

Former US Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker is set to appear Thursday before three [closed door] congressional committees -- the first official to testify on explosive whistleblower charges that President Donald Trump tried to pressure Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden, an effort the White House then worked to cover up.

Volker is also one of the State Department witnesses whose depositions to Congress Secretary of State Michael Pompeo tried to block, setting off a tussle with lawmakers who say they will interpret any effort to prevent the officials' appearances as obstruction.

 

[essentialsaltes]

The former US special envoy for Ukraine told House investigators that he urged Ukraine's leadership not to interfere in US politics in a conversation that followed the phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, according to two sources familiar with the testimony.

 

[wing2000]

Guess no one can claim executive privilege if he's no longer a member of the executive branch.

...or take orders from the WH.