A top State Department official who House Democrats presented as a star witness at the public hearing on impeachment said President Trump’s private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani actively undermined U.S. interests in Ukraine.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George P. Kent’s remarks, delivered in an opening statement, added to allegations that Mr. Giuliani was running “shadow diplomacy” for Mr. Trump.
Mr. Kent said the ouster of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, which Mr. Giuliani allegedly helped orchestrate, had “hampered” efforts to establish a relationship with the new administration in Kyiv.
He said that the allegations against Ms. Yovanovitch were peddled by former Ukrainian officials — Victor Shaken and Yuriy Lutsenko — “in order to exact revenge” against American officials.
“During the late spring and summer of 2019, I became alarmed as these efforts bore fruit,” he said. “In mid-August, it became clear to me that Giuliani’s efforts to gin up politically-motivated investigations were now infecting U.S. engagement with Ukraine, leveraging President Zelensky’s desire for a White House meeting.”
He acknowledged there was a “long-standing problem of corruption” in Ukraine that included the energy company Burisma and he raised his concerns in 2015 that the investigations into the company’s power were put on hold and that Hunter Biden, son of then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden, had a position that could create a conflict of interest.
However, he insisted that several officials pushed to get that investigation restarted.
“I did not witness any efforts by any U.S. official to shield Burma from scrutiny,” he said.
The crux of the impeachment inquiry centers on allegations that President Trump pressured Ukrainian President Zelensky via a quid pro quo to open investigations into alleged 2016 election interference and Vice President Joe Biden’s connection to Burisma corruption.
Republicans have focused on trying to establish the president had a legitimate reason to want an investigation into potential corruption on behalf of Mr. Biden.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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