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DNC Contractor Who Tried to Get Dirt on Trump Says She Wants to Testify in Impeachment Inquiry

A Democratic National Committee contractor who met with Ukrainian officials during the 2016 election..

A Democratic National Committee contractor who met with Ukrainian officials during the 2016 election to try to get dirt on Donald Trumps campaign said that she wants to testify to Congress in the impeachment inquiry.

Alexandra Chalupa was one of the witnesses Republicans requested testify in a letter to House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

“Given President Trumps documented belief that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to oppose his candidacy, which forms the basis for a reasonable desire for Ukraine to investigate the circumstances surrounding the election and any potential Ukrainian involvement, Ms. Chalupa is a prime fact witness who can assist Congress and the American public in better understanding the facts and circumstances surrounding Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election,” Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) wrote.

In a new interview, Chalupa said shes eager to testify.

“Im on a mission to testify,” she told Politico.

Chalupa, founder of the political consulting firm Chalupa & Associates and a co-chair of the Democratic National Committees Ethnic Council, has admitted she met with Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on Paul Manafort, a former chairman of Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, but denied doing anything nefarious.

“There were no documents given, nothing like that,” she said. “They were being very protective and not speaking to the press as much as they should have. I think they were being careful because their situation was that they had to be very, very careful because they could not pick sides. Its a political issue, and they didnt want to get involved politically because they couldnt.”

According to a 2017 Politico investigation: “Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clintons allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers.”

Chalupa told Politico in 2017 that she shared information she found with officials from the Democratic National Committee and with Clintons campaign. She met with Ukraines ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, and one of his top aides, Oksana Shulyar, in March 2016 at the Ukrainian Embassy. She said the embassy worked with reporters, helping guide them to damaging information about Trump and Manafort.

Shulyar denied Chalupas characterization of the meeting and the alleged assistance to reporters, saying: “We have never worked to research and disseminate damaging information about Donald Trump and Paul Manafort.”

Another Ukrainian embassy official, Andrii Telizhenko, said Shulyar was involved with “coordinating an investigation with the Hillary team on Paul Manafort with Alexandra Chalupa.”

Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Valeriy Chaly, signs a condolence book for honoring former prime minister of Israel Shimon Peres at the Embassy of Israel in Washington on Sept. 30, 2016. (Zach GIbson/AFP via Getty Images)

Chaly Confirms

Earlier this year, Chaly told The Hills John Solomon said that Chalupa asked the Ukrainian government for information on Manaforts dealings inside Ukraine. Chalupa tried to arrange for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to comment about Manaforts ties to Russia during a 2016 visit to Washington, Chaly said.

“The Embassy got to know Ms. Chalupa because of her engagement with Ukrainian and other diasporas in Washington D.C., and not in her DNC capacity. Weve learned about her DNC involvement later,” Chaly said in a statement to The Hill.

“We were surprised to see Alexandras interest in Mr. Paul Manaforts case. It was her own cause. The Embassy representatives unambiguously refused to get involved in any way, as we were convinced that this is a strictly U.S. domestic matter.

“All ideas floated by Alexandra were related to approaching a Member of Congress with a purpose to initiate hearings on Paul Manafort or letting an investigative journalist ask President Poroshenko a question about Mr. Manafort during his public talk in Washington.”

Late last year, a Ukrainian court ruled that two Ukrainian officials broke the law and interfered in the U.S. election by releasing confidential information on Manaforts financial dealings. One of the two officials, Serhiy LRead More – Source

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