CNN reported that the agency had exclusively obtained a never-before-heard audio that shows how former President Donald Trump's longtime adviser and lawyer Rudy Giuliani relentlessly pressured and coaxed the Ukrainian government in 2019 to investigate baseless conspiracies about then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.
According to the publication, the audio is of a July 2019 phone call between Giuliani, US diplomat Kurt Volker, and Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During the roughly 40-minute call, Giuliani repeatedly told Yermak that Zelensky should publicly announce investigations into possible corruption by Biden in Ukraine, and into claims that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election to hurt Trump. (These separate claims are both untrue.)
The new audio demonstrates how Giuliani aggressively cajoled Ukrainians into the Biden investigation.
“All we need from the President [Zelensky] is to say, I'm gonna put an honest prosecutor in charge, he's gonna investigate and dig up the evidence, that presently exists and is there any other evidence about involvement of the 2016 election, and then the Biden thing has to be run out," Giuliani said, according to the audio. "... Somebody in Ukraine's gotta take that seriously."
During the call, Yermak listened patiently and tried to reroute the conversation to official diplomatic matters, like arranging dates for Zelensky to make his first official visit to the US. But he also gave signals to the Americans on the line that he'd work to move the ball forward on the "investigations."
"I'm absolutely sure that as soon as the dates of President Zelensky's upcoming visit to United States will be confirmed, I am ready to be personally assume control of the preparation," Yermak said. "And of course, I will be ready to come, and we can (be) personally sitting (down), and in detail discuss all the questions, all this investigation which you listed in our conversation."
Both Giuliani and Volker liked what they heard. Volker mentioned that Trump was scheduled to speak with Zelensky soon and congratulate him on his major parliamentary victory. By the end of the call, it seemed clear to Yermak what needed to happen to get on Trump's good side.
Giuliani did not respond to CNN's request to comment on the audio recording.