A collection of private text messages between senior American diplomats became public on October 4, 2019, providing an extraordinary look inside the Trump administration's dealings with Ukraine and adding new fuel to the rapidly expanding impeachment inquiry.
The messages involved U.S. special envoy Kurt Volker, Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Taken together, the exchanges showed American officials discussing a potential White House meeting for Zelensky, investigations sought by Trump and his allies, and hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. security assistance that had been placed on hold.
One message stood above the rest.
William Taylor wrote:
"I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."
A White House Meeting and Investigations
The messages documented months of conversations concerning Trump's relationship with Ukraine's newly elected president.
Zelensky wanted a White House meeting with Trump.
At the same time, Trump and Giuliani were interested in Ukrainian investigations involving the 2016 election and Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company whose board had included Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden.
Joe Biden was then a leading candidate seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Trump in 2020.
One July message from Volker discussed preparations for a telephone conversation between Trump and Zelensky and said it was important for Zelensky to say that he would "help investigation."
Another exchange in August concerned a potential Ukrainian public statement addressing investigations.
Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak specifically referenced Burisma and election-related investigations while discussing the proposed statement.
The messages raised a fundamental question:
Was access to President Trump being conditioned on Ukraine publicly announcing investigations politically useful to him?
"Are We Now Saying..."
By September, William Taylor was becoming increasingly concerned.
On September 1, Taylor sent Sondland a remarkably direct question:
"Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?"
Sondland didn't answer the question in writing.
His response consisted of three words:
"Call me."
Taylor's concern didn't disappear.
A week later, he warned that his "nightmare" was that Ukrainian officials would publicly announce the requested investigations and still not receive the security assistance.
Then came the message that would dominate headlines when the texts became public.
Shortly after midnight on September 9, Taylor wrote:
"As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."
Sondland Pushes Back
Several hours later, Sondland responded with a lengthy defense of Trump's intentions.
He told Taylor that he believed Taylor was incorrect about the president and wrote that Trump had been clear there would be no quid pro quo.
Sondland said Trump's concern was whether Ukraine would follow through on transparency and reforms promised by Zelensky.
Then Sondland suggested something else:
The diplomats should stop discussing the matter through text messages.
That exchange became central to the developing impeachment controversy.
Taylor's message appeared to show that the top American diplomat in Ukraine was deeply concerned that military assistance was being connected to Trump's domestic political interests.
Sondland's response documented the opposing position: that Trump had explicitly rejected a quid pro quo.
The texts therefore did not simply provide one side of the dispute.
They documented the dispute happening inside Trump's own diplomatic team.
Nearly $400 Million in Security Assistance
At the center of the controversy was roughly $400 million in congressionally approved military and security assistance for Ukraine.
Ukraine was fighting Russian-backed forces and relied heavily on American support.
Trump had ordered the assistance withheld during the summer of 2019.
The money was ultimately released on September 11.
But by then, Taylor's messages showed that at least some American diplomats were deeply worried about what the hold meant—and what Ukrainian officials might believe they needed to do to get the assistance released.
The Messages Reach Congress
Volker turned the messages over to congressional investigators while appearing for a lengthy closed-door deposition on October 3.
House investigators subsequently released portions of them publicly.
By October 4, Washington was examining exchanges that had never been intended for public consumption.
The messages provided investigators with contemporaneous evidence—written while events were unfolding—of what American diplomats were saying privately about Ukraine, the White House meeting, investigations and military assistance.
That made them particularly significant.
These weren't recollections offered months later.
They were messages written by officials while they were attempting to navigate the situation.
A Growing Impeachment Inquiry
The texts emerged at a critical moment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had announced a formal impeachment inquiry only days earlier following revelations about Trump's July 25 telephone conversation with Zelensky.
During that call, after Zelensky mentioned American military assistance, Trump asked him to "do us a favor though" and raised issues involving the 2016 election. Trump also urged Zelensky to speak with Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr and later raised Joe and Hunter Biden.
Trump maintained that he had done nothing improper and repeatedly characterized the Ukraine controversy and impeachment investigation as politically motivated.
But the newly released messages gave congressional investigators something beyond Trump's telephone call.
They provided a window into what was happening behind the scenes.
American diplomats had been discussing investigations.
They had been discussing a White House meeting.
They had been discussing frozen security assistance.
And one of America's most senior diplomats in Ukraine had put his concern in writing:
"I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."
Those words would soon become part of the evidence at the center of Donald Trump's first impeachment.