Giuliani, Ukraine worried Bolton

Diplomat: Former NSC head said Trump lawyer could complicate U.S. goals

WASHINGTON >> A State Department Foreign Service officer is telling House impeachment investigators that former national security adviser John Bolton cautioned him that Rudy Giuliani “was a key voice with the president on Ukraine” and could complicate U.S. goals in the Eastern European country.

The testimony on Wednesday from Christopher Anderson makes clear that administration officials were concerned about Giuliani’s backchannel involvement in Ukraine policy and his push for investigations even before the July

phone call between President Donald Trump and his Ukraine counterpart that’s now at the center of the House impeachment inquiry. On that call, Trump prodded Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Anderson describes a June meeting in which he said Bolton expressed support for the administration’s goals of strengthening energy cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine and getting Zelenskiy to undertake anti-corruption reforms.

“However, he cautioned that Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the president on Ukraine which could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement,” Anderson will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. Giuliani is Trump’s personal lawyer.

Anderson, scheduled to appear in private late Wednesday, is a career Foreign Service officer who was special adviser for Ukraine negotiations until this past June.

In his opening statement, he traces his unease with developments and statements in the U.S. that he felt threatened to set back relations between the U.S. and Ukraine. That includes a tweet from Giuliani that Anderson said alleged that Zelenskiy “was surrounded by enemies of President Trump” and the abrupt recall earlier this year of Marie Yovanovitch, then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.