Once an obscure diplomat, Volker at centre of Trump inquiry

Kurt Volker was little kwn outside of foreign policy circles as special U.S. envoy to Ukraine until last week when whistleblower complaint against President Donald Trump recast once-obscure diplomat as a central figure in unfolding impeachment inquiry. Volker arrived at Capitol Hill on Thursday to testify in private to congressional investigators who want to ask about any role he may have played in Trump’s efforts to press Ukrainian officials for damaging information about son of former Vice President Joe Biden. Volker resigned on Friday after being asked to testify to Congress about complaint, which describes how Trump in a July 25 phone call repeatedly prodded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for an investigation of Biden and his son, while his ministration delayed release of military aid to help Ukraine fight Russia-backed separatists. complaint says Volker met in Kyiv with Zelenskiy and or Ukrainian political figures a day after call and he provided vice about how to “navigate” Trump’s demands.

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Daniel Fried: 'I think he was doing best he could'

“I think he was doing best he could,” said retired senior U.S. diplomat Daniel Fried, who described actions of his former colleague as trying to guide Ukrainians on “how to deal with President Trump under difficult circumstances.”Volker’s role, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s confirmation that he was also on Trump’s July 25 call, deeply entangles State Department in impeachment inquiry w showing White House.

State Department said that Volker has confirmed that he put a Zelenskiy viser in contact with Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, at Ukraine viser’s request, and Giuliani has said that he was in frequent contact with Volker. Separately, Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Volker met last year with a top official from same Ukrainian energy firm that paid Biden’s son Hunter to serve on its board. meeting occurred even as Giuliani pressed Ukraine’s government to investigate company and Bidens’ involvement with it.

Pompeo accused congressional investigators of trying to “bully” and “intimidate” State Department officials with subpoenas for documents and testimony, suggesting he would seek to prevent m from providing information. But committee mand to schedule deposition with Volker as well as one next week with Marie Yovavitch, who was U.S. ambassor to Ukraine until she was removed from post last spring.

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Volker a 'dedicated public servant'

A spotlight is an unlikely place for Volker, who was brought into Trump ministration by Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, to serve as envoy for Ukraine. He worked in a volunteer capacity and h retained his job as he of John McCain Institute for International Leership at Arizona State University. Though his name may t have been kwn before last week to most Americans, Volker h a long diplomatic career, often working behind scenes.

He was a principal deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs before becoming U.S. ambassor to NATO in 2008. In his most recent role as envoy to Ukraine, he spoke openly of U.S. support for Ukrainian sovereignty. Last year, he criticized expansion of Russian naval operations and Russia’s resistance to full deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine to monitor fight against Russia-backed separatists.

Pompeo himself has mentioned Volker in an appearance in Rome on Wednesday when he confirmed his participation in call, saying he h been focused on “taking down threat that Russia poses” in Ukraine and to help country build its ecomy. Fried described Volker as a “dedicated public servant and professional, a problem solver.” In all of years, I’ve worked with him, we never h a partisan conversation,” Fried said. “He’s an utter professional,” he ded.

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