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Top NSC Russia official confirms key testimony linking Trump to quid pro quo

Tim Morrison, however, was careful not to directly criticize the president's actions.

By ANDREW DESIDERIO

President Donald Trump’s top Russia aide on Thursday corroborated aspects of a key U.S. diplomat’s testimony connecting the president to a quid pro quo with Ukraine, according to people familiar with the aide’s testimony to House impeachment investigators.

Timothy Morrison, the Europe and Russia chief for the National Security Council, was cited more than a dozen times in William Taylor’s opening statement to investigators last week. Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, said Morrison told him that Trump sought to withhold military aid to Ukraine and refuse a White House meeting with the country’s president until it launched investigations into Trump’s political rivals. Morrison, who testified for more than eight hours behind closed doors, confirmed Taylor’s account of those conversations.

The revelation was significant for House Democrats, who are seeking to build a case that Trump abused the powers of the presidency to exact political favors from a foreign country.

But Morrison, a former longtime GOP congressional aide, was careful to not directly criticize the president’s actions, according to another person familiar with his closed-door testimony. The person added that Morrison focused instead on what he believed to be a mistake to freeze military aid to Ukraine, which has come under increased aggression from Russia to its east. Morrison also said he did not believe Trump did anything “illegal.”

According to Taylor’s testimony, Morrison said he had a “sinking feeling” after learning about a phone call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, during which Trump demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announce investigations into Joe Biden and a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election.

Taylor also described a conversation, relayed to him by Morrison, between Sondland and a senior Ukrainian official. Taylor testified that Sondland told the Ukrainian official that critical military assistance to the eastern European country would be withheld unless Zelensky “committed to pursuing” a Biden investigation.

Taylor said he was “alarmed” after learning of the conversation, and said he previously told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he “would have to resign” if the U.S. changed its policy of supporting Ukraine. “Based on my call with Mr. Morrison, I was preparing to do so,” Taylor added.

A person close to Morrison said his testimony provided “nuance” that was not reflected in Taylor’s testimony, which was mostly based on his recollections of conversations with senior officials. The person also said Morrison would be able to “give an oral history of the aid package for Ukraine,” including why it was held up and when it was eventually released.

Morrison was not looking to “burn his boss,” the person added, referring to the president.

Republicans were cheering Morrison’s testimony, claiming it did not advance Democrats’ case to impeach Trump.

“It was a good day for the president, a good day for America, and hopefully the end of this impeachment inquiry,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a top ally of the president.

Morrison is set to resign his post imminently, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. He became the second current White House official to testify to impeachment investigators, two days after Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine and Russia expert on the NSC, testified he believed Trump’s overtures to Ukraine undermined U.S. national security.

Vindman said he reported Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky to an NSC attorney, John Eisenberg. During that phone call, which Vindman listened to from the White House situation room, Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate Biden, according to a White House memorandum about the conversation.

The White House sought to block Morrison’s testimony on Thursday, according to an official working on the impeachment inquiry. Morrison was served with a subpoena and was cooperating with the three committees leading the inquiry, the official added.

Morrison was brought on to the NSC by John Bolton, the former national security adviser, to handle weapons of mass destruction and biodefense. Impeachment investigators have asked Bolton to testify next week.

Morrison’s testimony came on the same day the House adopted new procedures for the impeachment inquiry as the closed-door depositions likely wind down after next week, setting the stage for the critical public-facing part of the inquiry.