[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 155 (Wednesday, September 25, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H7983-H7986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, it is with grave concern for our country,
our longstanding Western security alliances, and liberty itself that I
rise today.
I have the distinct privilege of serving on the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Defense and co-chair the Congressional Ukraine Caucus.
As the Congresswoman from a district with a strong Ukrainian heritage
and tens of thousands of citizens who understand what liberty demands,
I hold a unique perspective and, dare say, deep knowledge to speak on
the events of the past several days to provide some additional context
on why the conversation between President Donald Trump and the newly
elected President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is so distressing to
our national security.
The American public has looked on in horror as America's President,
President Trump, has willfully neglected his oath of office and sacred
duty to defend the best interests of our Nation in favor of his own
and, in effect, promote the interests of Russian dictator Vladimir
Putin.
This week, we learned of yet another instance in which our President
has put national security at risk in favor of advancing his own
personal, partisan, political objectives.
According to a highly redacted White House memo released this
morning, new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was quoted as
saying he was ``ready to buy more U.S. antitank missiles to defend his
nation against Russia's invasion.''
And President Trump, without skipping a beat, responded: ``I would
like you to do us a favor, though.''
A favor to receive the funds that this Congress passed and
appropriated? A favor to disburse the funds already slated for Ukraine
until President Trump held them back to ask a favor?
That is illegal. It is unconstitutional. And it is dead wrong.
This exchange is not only a clear violation of the law; it is an
unprecedented abuse of power that undermines our national security,
violates our Constitution, and compromises the struggle for liberty on
the continent of Europe that includes America's most trusted allies
through instrumentalities like NATO.
Article I of the Constitution clearly states that all legislative
power shall be vested in the Congress of the United States and that
Congress holds the awesome power of the purse.
On July 18, President Trump purposefully directed his administration
to
[[Page H7984]]
withhold nearly $400 million in defense assistance for Ukraine from the
State and Defense Departments' budgets.
These funds were voted by Members of the House and Senate. And,
frankly, at one point this year, we did not know that the President was
holding the funds back. When we learned that he was, I joined my fellow
Ukraine Caucus co-chair, Congressman Mike Quigley of Chicago, in
issuing a statement demanding that the money we had voted for be
released.
Members of Congress wrote the President letters and sent them to the
White House and were told by the administration that, well, you know,
it was ``an interagency delay'' that caused the funds not to be
released to a nation at war with Russia.
Russia invaded Ukraine, not the reverse. And the scrimmage line for
liberty on the continent of Europe now is at the Russian-Ukrainian
border, and our President delayed the release of those funds.
The President sought to make the release of national security funds
passed and appropriated by this Congress contingent on asking a new
foreign leader for a favor--a favor--prior to release of those funds.
Congress must compel the release of the full conversation that
occurred between President Trump and the new President of Ukraine,
Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the full whistleblower complaint as was
originally submitted to the Office of Inspector General.
We do not have the full release. I will say more about that in a
moment.
The document we were provided today was not a complete transcript of
the conversation that our President had with President Zelensky. We
only got about 11 minutes of a conversation that lasted upwards of 30
minutes. Congress must demand the full transcript and hold the
executive branch officials in contempt if they refuse to give us the
full documents.
Like so many Americans, I am disgusted by President Trump's repeated
betrayal of American interests in favor of Vladimir Putin's.
This President's efforts to coerce Ukrainian President Zelensky, an
allied leader, into helping him win reelection by urging
congressionally supported military aid as leverage is not only a
dramatic betrayal of the President's constitutional duty; it is also
the latest example of Trump doing Putin's bidding.
I am certain that our President's relationship with Vladimir Putin
didn't start with his veiled support for Putin's election meddling or
inviting the Russians to hack the Democratic National Committee or even
lobbying, most recently, for Russia to be readmitted to the G7, our
most trusted allies, when Russia has invaded Ukraine, for heaven's
sake.
Who benefits when Ukraine loses military assistance? It is an easy
question. Russia, the country that is waging a bloody war in Ukraine
for over 5 years.
Who is to say Putin wasn't listening in when Trump blackmailed
Zelensky?
Madam Speaker, no Member of Congress has traveled to Ukraine as many
times as I, beginning long before I was in Congress and long before the
Berlin wall fell. I can say with confidence that Ukraine, today, is the
scrimmage line for liberty's defense on the continent of Europe. And
that is why President Trump's decision to withhold this money is so
troubling.
There is no more important strategic military alliance for liberty
than America's membership with European nations in NATO, the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization. Every minute of every day, NATO stands
united to defend against dictatorships and protect our liberties.
Russia has always hated this organization and will do anything to
disrupt the Western alliance, and she is hard and fast at work doing
that as we stand here this evening.
We know the battlefields of Europe directly influenced the founding
of our own Republic and our fundamental ideals of democracy. NATO
stands ready, as we stand here tonight, to defend our liberty. In
return, we keep our word--our word--for our NATO allies, a promise that
should never be contingent on a single President's political objectives
back home.
After the collapse of communist Russia in 1991, Ukraine became a free
nation. Ukraine had been occupied for all of its modern history but
began its jagged path forward to the free world, a path that has been
torturous and fraught with danger and setbacks and, yes, bloody murder.
To this day, there exists an insidious network of corrupt Ukrainian
and Russian oligarchs whose tentacles reach far across Ukraine and the
rest of the world, seeking to undermine the Western alliance while
protecting the selfish, corrupt financial looting that continues to
this day in that part of the world and, frankly, even reaching our
shores.
It will be a permanent blot on American history that certain
Americans, including President Trump's campaign manager and several
other Trump operatives, were actually involved in supporting these
oligarchs and the undemocratic forces that are trying to undermine the
Government of Ukraine every time they try to right themselves. And
these oligarchs steal and plunder billions of dollars with their
Kremlin allies.
Despite these setbacks, since Ukraine's Euromaidan Revolution of
Dignity 5 years ago, Ukrainian people have bravely demonstrated their
resolute commitment to their nation's democratic future.
The latest example is their historic Presidential and parliamentary
elections, which international observers lauded as free and fair.
Meanwhile, Russia's devastating invasion of Ukraine has resulted in
more than 13,000 Ukrainian deaths, including civilians who have been
targeted by Russian missiles, 30,000 injured, and more than 2 million
displaced internally.
It is sad that Ukraine must fight a war on two fronts: a hot war
against Russia, for which she is completely underarmed, and one against
the enemy from within, the scourge of corruption, both perpetuated by
Russian influence.
In fact, when Boris Nemtsov, a brave Russian, was prepared to lead a
demonstration for Ukrainian independence, he was killed on the steps
near the Kremlin--how about that?--in Moscow.
{time} 1930
That is how Russia plays.
Ukraine's new President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and his party in the
Rada won a significant majority because he promised, finally, to root
out this corruption.
While the ink is fresh on the Zelensky Presidency, we have high hopes
for him and his ability to live up to the expectations of his people.
It would be tragic if President Trump compromised him with his recent
missteps.
In order to make good on his promise to root out corruption,
President Zelensky must make clear his independence from every
oligarch. A prime example is his benefactor, the infamous Ukrainian
oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. Kolomoisky serves as an example of corrupt
influence on Ukraine's fragile political system.
With a net worth of over $1.2 billion--and I am sure that is a
lowball number--Kolomoisky is one of the richest and most corrupt
oligarchs in Ukraine. He also owns the television channel that ran the
show ``Servant of the People'' that propelled Zelensky to stardom and
popular acclaim.
The question for history will be: Will Ukraine's new President be
able to rise to the highest aspirations of those who voted for him? Or
will he be mired in corruption at home and by entrapment by foreign
leaders like President Trump?
Kolomoisky, like other oligarchs, did not become rich due to their
acumen. Rather, they used lies, intimidation, cheating, stealing, money
laundering, and killing--yes, killing. These are their stock in trade.
Kolomoisky used his company, PrivatBank, as a personal piggy bank by
issuing endless loans to himself and, frankly, laundering billions of
dollars--billions of dollars--including in this country, mainly in real
estate.
In one instance, Kolomoisky hired hundreds of thugs--think about
this--with iron rods, rubber bullet pistols, chainsaws, and baseball
bats to raid a plant in order to take it over. He didn't buy it. He
stole it--surely, a macabre definition of a hostile takeover.
Due to Kolomoisky's corruption and looting of the PrivatBank, the
bank had lost $5.5 billion, putting Ukraine's
[[Page H7985]]
economy at risk. That is why the head of Ukraine's National Bank,
Valeria Gontareva, nationalized it. This was a critical step urged by
the United States, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund,
and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Now, Ms. Gontareva's life is under threat. She was hit by a car in
London, leaving her hospitalized. Her son's car was burned. Her house
in Kiev was burned down, her apartment raided by police.
Fear, crime, murder, and destruction are the paths of repressive
regimes. Freedom-lovers simply do not accept that way of life for
ourselves or for the future of Ukraine.
For these reasons, I have invited Valeria to come to Capitol Hill to
share her courageous story in the face of such brutal intimidation.
Corrupt oligarchs, with their ill-gotten gains, launder money to the
West, where they know our laws will keep their ill-gotten money safe.
How ironic it is that the Kremlin mouthpieces mock our values of
openness and our strong tradition of rule of law while Putin's cronies
safely store and invest their dirty money here.
I can tell you that, in our country, recent reports have noted that
Kolomoisky and his business partner, Gennadiy Bogolyubov, have funneled
vast funds through various Delaware-based shell companies into
properties and businesses around our Nation, even in my district of
Cleveland, Ohio, where Kolomoisky has become downtown Cleveland's
largest commercial real estate owner. How about that?
It is not just in my State. It is in Florida. It is across this
country. This is what is going on with the kind of corruption that
spreads across our world, and it is why we have to pay attention to
what is happening in Ukraine because, next to Ukraine, behind the Iron
Curtain of Russian leadership, they have a plan to disrupt the West,
certainly using every tool they have to disrupt the NATO alliance, but
even here in our country, trying to disrupt our way of life.
The newly reconstituted PrivatBank, which was taken over by the
nation of Ukraine, has brought forth a case on behalf of its
shareholders in Delaware against Kolomoisky. According to court
documents--and get this--Kolomoisky laundered $470 billion through a
Cyprus-based shell company between 2006 and 2016, potentially the
largest money laundering case in history.
It is now reported that the FBI is currently investigating these
international financial crimes. I fully support their investigation to
get to the bottom of these corrupt dealings across the world but,
certainly, in the region that I live.
The United States and our allies must send a message that such malign
behavior will not be tolerated. We cannot be complicit in empowering
foreign money laundering and the enrichment of corrupt oligarchs. We
cannot encourage the kind of complicity that the President inferred in
his remarks to President Zelensky in his recent conversation.
The United States and our allies can take steps to combat the illicit
flows of money that empower the oligarch economy of money laundering,
blackmail, murder, and extortion. Congress must enact beneficial
ownership transparency legislation to prevent malign actors from easily
opening shell companies here. We must continue to support investigative
journalism, not just in Ukraine, but here in order to maintain our own
liberty and remain the bastion of liberty for the free world.
President Zelensky and the newly elected Rada must now make good on
their campaign promises to serve the people of Ukraine, not the
oligarchs. Ukraine's new President must fully support the work of
anticorruption that has been promoted by even many Members of our own
Congress, including Representative Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania,
who has worked so hard to establish that effort even prior to his
service here in the Congress.
Critical organizations to perform the tasks include the National
Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the National Agency on Corruption
Prevention, as well as the Anti-Corruption Court. The judicial system
must be given true independence to root out corruption free from any
kind of outside political influence.
Madam Speaker, the Ukrainian people have our full support in their
efforts to shake off the rapacious grip of corrupt oligarchs supported
by Russia.
Democracy shines in the sunlight, and we want that sunlight to shine
here. Any conversation between our President and the new President of
Ukraine that can reveal any attempt to threaten security of our
longstanding allied relationships and continue to threaten liberty
demands the undivided attention of this Congress.
I reiterate my call for transparency, accountability, and strong,
unencumbered congressional investigations.
If President Trump and his administration fail to comply with
legitimate congressional inquiries, then there is no other option than
for this House to stand with our American allies and move forward with
impeachment.
We appreciate those who work late into the evening this night to make
sure that these words get placed in the Record.
Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the following material:
Kaptur Press Release on Whistleblower Complaint, September 20, 2019
Washington.--Today, Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukraine
Caucus Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), released the
following statement after reports of a whistleblower
complaint filed by a member of the Intelligence Community,
which is being withheld from Congress in violation of federal
law, is said to involve Ukraine:
``Today. press reports indicate that a U.S. intelligence
officers whistleblower complaint regarding President Trump's
possible breach of national security may involve the nation
of Ukraine.'' said Rep. Kaptur. As co-chair of the bipartisan
Congressional Ukraine Caucus. I fully support the efforts by
Chairman Adam Schiff and the House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence to seek a detailed accounting of the
complaint and transcript of the incident(s), and call upon
the Speaker and Minority Leader to take all courses of action
for appropriate Congressional oversight to obtain the
relevant documents and necessary testimony to establish
confirmation of fact and circumstance.''
``Following Ukraine's historic elections and continued
democratic struggles, the Ukrainian people deserve our full
support. We must know to what extent the President and his
lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. are using the weight of U.S. foreign
policy, including holding critical security assistance, to
advance their own narrow personal interests.''
``The American people deserve a government free of malign
foreign influence. The American people deserve to know the
full truth.''
____
Kaptur/Quigley Press Release To Condemn President Trump's Attempt To
Slow Roll Critical Assistance to Ukraine, August 30, 2019
Washington.--Today, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Ukraine
Caucus Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and Mike Quigley
(D-IL) released the following statement condemning President
Trump's attempts to slow-roll $250 million in congressionally
appropriated military aid for Ukraine, known as the Ukraine
Security Assistance Initiative.
``President Trump's decision to slow-walk this
congressionally appropriated military funding for Ukraine is
disturbing and demonstrates once again his affinity for
Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.'' the
representatives said in a joint statement. ``This funding is
vital to preserving democracy in Ukraine and Eastern Europe
and must not be delayed or hindered in any way.''
``With Russia's unprovoked, unwarranted and murderous
invasion of Ukraine and with over 10,000 innocent Ukrainians
now having been killed, the President of the United States
should not be a defender of Russian interests. President
Trump has repeatedly berated our closest allies in the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization. lifted sanctions on Russian
oligarchs. and advocated for Russia being allowed back in the
G7.''
``The President of the United States should be a champion
for liberty, not a pawn for dictators. This funding cannot be
delayed.''
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation
Subject: Telephone Conversation with President Zelenskyy of
Ukraine.
Participants: President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Notetakers: The
White House Situation Room.
Date, time and place: July 25, 2019, 9:03-9:33 a.m. EDT
Residence.
The President: Congratulations on a great victory. We all
watched from the United States and you did a terrific job.
The way you came from behind, somebody who wasn't given much
of a chance, and you ended up winning easily. It's a
fantastic achievement. Congratulations.
President Zelenskyy: You are absolutely right Mr.
President. We did win big and we worked hard for this. We
worked a lot but I would like to confess to you that I had an
opportunity to learn from you. We used quite a few of your
skills and knowledge and were able to use it as an example
for our elections
[[Page H7986]]
and yes it is true that these were unique elections. We were
in a unique situation that we were able to achieve a unique
success. I'm able to tell you the following; the first time,
you called me to congratulate me when I won my presidential
election, and the second time you are now calling me when my
party won the parliamentary election. I think I should run
more often so you can call me more often and we can talk over
the phone more often.
The President: [laughter] That's a very good idea. I think
your country is very happy about that.
President Zelenskyy: Well yes, to tell you the truth, we
are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp
here in our country. We brought in many many new people. Not
the old politicians, not the typical politicians, because we
want to have a new format and a new type of government. You
are a great teacher for us and in that.
The President: Well it's very nice of you to say that. I
will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of
effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European
countries are doing and they should be helping you more than
they are. Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is
talk and I think it's something that you should really ask
them about. When I was speaking to Angela Merkel she talks
Ukraine, but she doesn't do anything. A lot of the European
countries are the same way so I think it's something you want
to look at but the United States has been very very good to
Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily
because things are happening that are not good but the United
States has been very very good to Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy: Yes you are absolutely right. Not only
100%, but actually 1000% and I can tell you the following; I
did talk to Angela Merkel and I did meet with her. I also met
and talked with Macron and I told them that they are not
doing quite as much as they need to be doing on the issues
with the sanctions. They are not enforcing the sanctions.
They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine.
It turns out that even though logically, the European Union
should be our biggest partner but technically the United
States is a much bigger partner than the European Union and
I'm very grateful to you for that because the United States
is doing quite a lot for Ukraine. Much more than the European
Union especially when we are talking about sanctions against
the Russian Federation. I would also like to thank you for
your great support in the area of defense. We are ready to
continue to cooperate for the next steps specifically we are
almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for
defense purposes.
The President: I would like you to do us a favor though
because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows
a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened
with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike
. . . I guess you have one of your wealthy people. . . The
server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things
that went on, the whole situation. I think you're surrounding
yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have
the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like
you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that
whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man
named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they
say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do,
it's very important that you do it if that's possible.
President Zelenskyy: Yes it is very important for me and
everything that you just mentioned earlier. For me as a
President, it is very important and we are open for any
future cooperation. We are ready to open a new page on
cooperation in relations between the United States and
Ukraine. For that purpose, I just recalled our ambassador
from United States and he will be replaced by a very
competent and very experienced ambassador who will work hard
on making sure that our two nations are getting closer. I
would also like and hope to see him having your trust and
your confidence and have personal relations with you so we
can cooperate even more so. I will personally tell you that
one of my assistants spoke with Mr. Giuliani just recently
and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to
travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine.
I just wanted to assure you once again that you have nobody
but friends around us. I will make sure that I surround
myself with the best and most experienced people. I also
wanted to tell you that we are friends. We are great friends
and you Mr. President have friends in our country so we can
continue our strategic partnership. I also plan to surround
myself with great people and in addition to that
investigation, I guarantee as the President of Ukraine that
all the investigations will be done openly and candidly. That
I can assure you.
The President: Good because I heard you had a prosecutor
who was very good and he was shut down and that's really
unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they
shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad
people involved. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He
was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would
like him to call you. I will ask him to call you along with
the Attorney General. Rudy very much knows what's
happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak
to him that would be great. The former ambassador from the
United States, the woman, was bad news and the people she
was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news so I just
want to let you know that. The other thing, There's a lot
of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the
prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about
that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General
would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped
the prosecution so if you can look into it . . . It sounds
horrible to me.
President Zelenskyy: I wanted to tell you about the
prosecutor. First of all I understand and I'm knowledgeable
about the situation. Since we have won the absolute majority
in our Parliament, the next prosecutor general will be 100%
my person, my candidate, who will be approved by the
parliament and will start as a new prosecutor in September.
He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the
company that you mentioned in this issue. The issue of the
investigation of the case is actually the issue of making
sure to restore the honesty so we will take care of that and
will work on the investigation of the case. On top of that, I
would kindly ask you if you have any additional information
that you can provide to us, it would be very helpful for the
investigation to make sure that we administer justice in our
country with regard to the Ambassador to the United States
from Ukraine as far as I recall her name was Ivanovich. It
was great that you were the first one who told me that she
was a bad ambassador because I agree with you 100%. Her
attitude towards me was far from the best as she admired the
previous President and she was on his side. She would not
accept me as a new President well enough.
The President: Well, she's going to go through some things.
I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going
to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the
bottom of it. I'm sure you will figure it out. I heard the
prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair
prosecutor so good luck with everything. Your economy is
going to get better and better I predict. You have a lot of
assets. It's a great country. I have many Ukrainian friends,
they're incredible people.
President Zelenskyy: I would like to tell you that I also
have quite a few Ukrainian friends that live in the United
States. Actually last time I traveled to the United States, I
stayed in New York near Central Park and I stayed at the
Trump Tower. I will talk to them and I hope to see them again
in the future. I also wanted to thank you for your invitation
to visit the United States, specifically Washington DC. On
the other hand, I also want to ensure you that we will be
very serious about the case and will work on the
investigation. As to the economy, there is much potential for
our two countries and one of the issues that is very
important for Ukraine is energy independence. I believe we
can be very successful and cooperating on energy independence
with United States. We are already working on cooperation. We
are buying American oil but I am very hopeful for a future
meeting. We will have more time and more opportunities to
discuss these opportunities and get to know each other
better. I would like to thank you very much for your support
The President: Good. Well, thank you very much and I
appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr
to call. Thank you. Whenever you would like to come to the
White House, feel free to call. Give us a date and we'll work
that out. I look forward to seeing you.
President Zelenskyy: Thank you very much. I would be very
happy to come and would be happy to meet with you personally
and get to know you better. I am looking forward to our
meeting and I also would like to invite you to visit Ukraine
and come to the city of Kyiv which is a beautiful city. We
have a beautiful country which would welcome you. On the
other hand, I believe that on September 1 we will be in
Poland and we can meet in Poland hopefully. After that, it
might be a very good idea for you to travel to Ukraine. We
can either take my plane and go to Ukraine or we can take
your plane, which is probably much better than mine.
The President: Okay, we can work that out. I look forward
to seeing you in Washington and maybe in Poland because I
think we are going to be there at that time.
President Zelenskyy: Thank you very much Mr. President.
The President: Congratulations on a fantastic job you've
none. The whole world was watching. I'm not sure it was so
much of an upset but congratulations.
President Zelenskyy: Thank you Mr. President bye-bye.
Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
____________________