Anderson is a career foreign service officer who served as Special Advisor for Ukraine Negotiations until July 12, 2019 (a pre-scheduled departure date)
Nov. 25, 2018: After Russia seized Ukrainian military vessels in the Sea of Azov, the State Department quickly prepared a statement for the White House condemning the Russian escalation but “the White House blocked it from being issued.”
Anderson doesn’t remember how he learned this, but he sent a message to Volker that Trump “put an embargo on any statements.”
Ukrainians were concerned that there wasn’t a stronger statement.
Others made statements but “there was never a statement from the White House.”
April 2019: When Zelensky was elected, Volker and Anderson were “hopeful that a newly empowered Ukrainian president could reignite high-level US engagement.”
May: Anderson and the others at the Embassy saw this tweet from Giuliani:
Anderson and his colleagues at the embassy tried to find ways to “counter” Giuliani’s “negative narrative.”
June 13: Bolton warned Anderson and Volker that Giuliani was a “key voice with the President on Ukraine” and that he’s the person Trump listens to about Ukraine.
Anderson was afraid that if Giuliani’s narrative took hold, it would undermine the U.S. government’s efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Donbas. He testified that Russia was watching to see whether the US would stick with Ukraine.
June 18: Secretary Perry hosted a meeting at the DOE to discuss how to move forward.
There was “some vague discussions in the meeting about how to address Mr. Giuliani’s continued calls for a corrupt investigation.”
Anderson explained that Ukraine was fighting two wars one in the east against Russia, the other against corruption. The war against corruption was just as important because even if Ukraine defeated Russia on the battlefield, Russia could win through corruption.
What did that mean? See:
Anderson explained that corruption is a “tool” because if everyone is corrupt, “who you prosecute is a political decision.”
[Narrator: This is the basis of whataboutism & “you’re the puppet” propaganda techniques.]
After Zelensky’s inauguration, Sondland was able to arrange a White House meeting within 3 days because he “had connections to the White House and was taken more seriously than the State Department bureaucracy.”
[Narrator: This makes it harder for Trump to throw Sondland under the bus]
After a meeting at the Department of Energy on June 18, 2019, Anderson and Taylor talked about why it was important “not to push for individual investigations.”
Anderson explained that there is a process in place if the US needs foreign help with ongoing cases.
The process is called MLAT, a mutual legal assistance (from the treaty)
If the DOJ wanted help investigating an ongoing matter, they file a request. The legal attache in Kyiv helps. So there is a formal channel.
[Bonus question: Why didn’t Giuliani want to use MLAT? For the answer, see Asha’s explanation of Black Propaganda. Answer: Giuliani and Trump wanted it to appear that Ukraine, on its own, initiated the investigation.
The GOP questioner asked if Anderson knew about officials in Ukraine “dabbling” in the 2016 US election. He said this:
[This is how the GOP defense that “Trump had reason to believe Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election” will backfire: It reminds everyone about Manafort.]
I have one more to do: Laura Cooper’s deposition notes.
