![\"Epoch](\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/01\/11\/Volodymyr-Zelenskyy-1200x720.jpg\")
<\/figcaption><\/a> Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky in a file photograph. (Charles Platiau\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n11:45 a.m. EST\u2014Corruption Didnt Go Away With Zelenskys Election: Sekulow<\/h2>\n
Corruption in Ukraine didnt disappear with the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere acting as if there were a magic wand. That there was new elections, and everything was now fine,\u201d Sekulow said.<\/p>\n
He quoted Tim Morrison, a National Security Council official who said he was \u201cconcerned about whether [Zelensky] would be a genuine reformer and whether he would genuinely try to root out corruption.\u201d He also quoted Dr. Fiona Hill, a former council official who said \u201celiminating corruption in Ukraine was one of the, if not the central goals, of a foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes anybody think that one election of one president that ran on a reform platform, who finally gets a majority in their legislative body, that corruption in Ukraine just evaporates?\u201d Sekulow wondered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cant look at these issues in a vacuum.\u201d Nearly every witness in the House impeachment inquiry agreed that corruption in Ukraine was an issue, he said.<\/p>\n
House impeachment managers this week focused on Ukraine in pushing for the removal of Trump from office.<\/p>\n
House manager Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said that a Department of Defense review last year concluded Ukraine made sufficient progress in meeting anti-corruption goals in order to receive the congressionally approved funds that Trump put on hold to look into corruption in the country.<\/p>\n Top Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a>, disputed accounts that they felt pressured to open investigations into former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Bidens son, a lawyer for the president noted on Saturday.<\/p>\n Kurt Volker, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, met with Zelensky the day after the July 25, 2019, phone call. Ukraine never brought up a hold on military aid or a \u201cquid pro quo,\u201d Volker testified to the House during the impeachment inquiry. Trumps team played the clip during the impeachment trial.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best evidence that there was no pressure or quid pro quo is the statements of the Ukrainians themselves. The fact that President Zelensky himself felt no pressure on the call and did not perceive there to be any connection between security assistance and investigations would, in any ordinary case, in any court, be totally fatal to the prosecution,\u201d Mike Purpura, deputy counsel to Trump, told lawmakers.<\/p>\n He was referring to allegations that Trump pressed Ukraine to \u201clook into\u201d allegations of corruption surrounding Ukraine, as well as the location of a computer server, in exchange for releasing a hold on aid Congress approved for the country.<\/p>\n House impeachment managers know Ukrainian leaders said there wasnt any pressure but insist Zelensky and others actually did feel pressure, Purpura said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey tell you that the Ukrainians must have felt pressure, regardless of what they said. They try to overcome the devastating evidence against them by, apparently, claiming to be mind readers,\u201d Purpura said.<\/p>\n House impeachment managers had another interpretation of Trumps call with Zelensky. They say Trumps response when his counterpart brought up buying more Javelin missiles from the United States\u2014Trump said \u201cI would love you to do us a favor though\u201d before asking Zelensky \u201cto find out what happened\u201d with CrowdStrike, a company hired to investigate a Democratic National Committee server breach\u2014was evidence of the \u201cquid pro quo\u201d allegation.<\/p>\n Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) brought up remarks by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney made during an October 2019 press conference<\/a>. Asked if it was a \u201cquid pro quo,\u201d Mulvaney responded, \u201cWe do that all the time with foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were holding up money at the same time for the Northern Triangle countries so that they would change their policies on immigration,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Mulvaney later issued a statement claiming media outlets misconstrued his remarks. \u201cLet me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Crow played Mulvaney making the comments at the press conference, telling lawmakers: \u201cNow, remember, at the time he made these statements, Mulvaney was both head of OMB [Office of Management and Budget] and the acting chief of staff at the White House. He knew about all of the legal concerns. He also knew about the presidents so-called drug deal, as Ambassador Bolton called it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe knew exactly what was going on in the oval office and how OMB implemented the presidents illegal order to withhold the aid. Mulvaney confirmed why the president ordered the hold,\u201d Crow said. \u201cIt was not to develop further policy to counter Russian aggression, it was not to convince Ukrainians to implement additional anti-corruption reforms, and it was not to pressure our allies to give more to Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n Trumps defense team played a clip showing House Intelligence Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) fabricating a portion of the transcript of the presidents 2019 phone call with Ukraines president.<\/p>\n Schiff made the fabrication<\/a> during a House hearing last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThats fake. Thats not the real call. Thats not the evidence here. Thats not the transcript,\u201d Mike Purpura, a counsel to Trump, told lawmakers on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we can shrug it off, and say we were making light, or a joke. But that was in a hearing in the United States House of Representatives discussing the removal of the president of the United States from office. There are very few things, if any, that can be as grave and as serious. Lets stick with the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n White House counsel Pat Cipollone said Saturday morning that senators should let voters decide whether to remove Trump from office in the November election.<\/p>\n \u201cTheyre asking you to something very, very consequential, and I would submit to you \u2026 very, very dangerous,\u201d he said on the Senate floor in Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cTheyre asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but theyre asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election thats occurring in approximately nine months. Theyre asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Removing Trump through impeachment \u201cwould violate the sacred trust that the American people have placed in you,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe American people decide elections. They have one coming up, in nine months.\u201d<\/p>\n [contfnewc] The Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump resumed at 10 a.m. on Jan. 25.<\/p>\n The Hous..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/figcaption><\/a> President Donald Trumps lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks during impeachment proceedings against Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 25, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n11:15 a.m. EST\u2014Trump Lawyer: Zelensky Said There Was No Pressure<\/h2>\n
<\/figcaption><\/a> President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25, 2019. (Saul Loeb\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n10:15 a.m. EST\u2014Trumps Team Draws Attention to Schiff Fabrication<\/h2>\n
10:15 a.m. EST\u2014Cipollone Tells Senate to Let Voters Decide<\/h2>\n
<\/figcaption><\/a> White House counsel Pat Cipollone speaks during impeaRead More \u2013 Source<\/a>
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\n <\/p>\nThe Epoch Times<\/a><\/h5>\n
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