Read the whistleblower's memo about Trump's
Ukraine call
By Arden Farhi
October 09, 2019 "Information
Clearing House" -
Washington — CBS
News has learned the full contents of what appears
to be a memo written by the whistleblower one day
after President Trump spoke with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky in July.
The memo, dated July 26, is based on a
conversation the whistleblower had with an unnamed
White House official who listened to the call.
According to a source familiar with the matter,
the memo was among the factors that led the
intelligence community inspector general to
determine the whistleblower's formal August 12
complaint was credible. The inspector general
testified Friday behind closed doors before the
three House committee leading the
impeachment inquiry.
The president's call with Zelensky was held on
the morning of July 25. The whistleblower wrote the
memo the next day after speaking with the official
in the afternoon. The whistleblower wrote that he or
she spoke with the White House official for "a few
minutes," and summarized their conversation.
According to the memo, the White House official
described the contents of the call as "crazy,"
"frightening" and "completely lacking in substance
related to national security."
The whistleblower said the official was "visibly
shaken by what had transpired and seemed keen to
inform a trusted colleague within the U.S. national
security apparatus about the call."
The whistleblower's summary of the White House
official's account of the call largely
comports with the
call record released by the White House, though
some details are missing.
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The full text of the memo, as
described to CBS News:
26 July 2019
The following is a record of a conversation I
had this afternoon with a White House official about
the telephone call yesterday morning between
President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy. The official who listened to the entirety
of the phone call was visibly shaken by what had
transpired and seemed keen to inform a trusted
colleague within the U.S. national security
apparatus about the call. After my call with this
official I [redacted] returned to my office, and
wrote up my best recollection of what I had heard.
The official described the call as "crazy,"
"frightening" and "completely lacking in substance
related to national security." The official asserted
that the President used the call to persuade
Ukrainian authorities to investigate his political
rivals, chiefly former Vice President Biden and his
son, Hunter. The official stated that there was
already a conversation underway with White House
lawyers about how to handle the discussion because,
in the official's view, the President had clearly
committed a criminal act by urging a foreign power
to investigate a U.S. person for the purposes of
advancing his own reelection bid in 2020.
The phone call lasted approximately half an
hour. The two leaders spoke through interpreters. My
conversation with the official only lasted a few
minutes, and as a result, I only received
highlights:
- The President asserted that "it all
started in Ukraine," referring to the
allegations of foreign interference in the 2016
U.S. presidential election and the subsequent
investigation into the Trump campaign's contact
with Russian individuals
- The President asked Zelenskyy to locate
the "Crowdstrike server" and turn it over to the
United States, claiming that Crowdstrike is "a
Ukrainian company," (Note: This appears to be a
reference to the DNC server from which Russian
hackers stole data and emails that were
subsequently leaked in mid-2016; the DNC hired
cyber security firm Crowdstrike to do the
forensic analysis, which informed the FBI's
investigation. It is not clear what the
president was referring to when he claimed
Crowdstrike is a Ukrainian company; one of its
cofounders was born in Moscow.)
- The President told Zelenskyy that he
would be sending his personal lawyer, former New
York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to Ukraine soon and
requested that Zelenskyy meet with him.
Zelenskyy reluctantly agreed that, if Giuliani
traveled to Ukraine, he would see him.
- The President raised the case of Burisma
Holdings, Hunter Biden's role in the company,
and former Vice President Biden's role in
setting Ukraine policy. The President urged
Zelenskyy to [end page 1] investigate the Bidens
and stated that Giuliani would discuss this
topic further with Zelenskyy during his trip to
Kyiv.
- The President urged Zelenskyy not to
fire Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy
Lutsenko, who the President claimed was doing a
good job. (Note: Lutsenko has spearheaded
various politicized investigations, including on
Burisma Holdings and alleged "Ukrainian
interference" in the 2016 U.S. presidential
election. Lutsenko is widely reviled in Ukraine,
and Zelenskyy has pledged to fire him but has
been unable to secure approval from the
legislature.)
- The President stated that he wanted
Attorney General William Barr to speak with
Zelenskyy as soon as possible. (Note: It was not
clear whether this conversation was to be in
reference to Crowdstrike or the investigations
of the Bidens.)
- The President reiterated his concern
that Zelenskyy was surrounded by people who were
enemies of the President, including "bad
oligarchs."
The President did not raise security
assistance. According to the official, Zelenskyy
demurred in response to most of the President's
requests.
I did not review a transcript or written notes,
but the official informed me that they exist.
- The standard White House practice for
Presidential-level phone calls with world
leaders is for the White House Situation Room to
produce a word-for-word electronic transcript
that memorializes the call. The transcript is
typically then circulated to key White House
officials to be transformed into a formal
memorandum that is distributed as an eyes-only
document, to the Secretary of State, Secretary
of Defense, and Director of the CIA.
- In this case, the official told me that
such a transcript had indeed been produced and
was being treated very sensitively, in hard copy
only. Moreover, several additional senior White
House officials listened to the entire phone
call in an adjacent room in the Situation Room
suite and they presumably took written notes on
the call.
- The official did not know whether the
President was aware that other people were
listening and that the call was being
transcribed. The official also was not certain
whether anyone else was in the Oval Office with
the President during the call.
- On the Ukrainian side, it is unclear who
listened to the call or whether a record was
produced.
This article was originally
published by "CBS"-
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