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2 US Diplomats: Trump Viewed Ukraine as Corrupt

Ken Bredemeier

   Two career U.S. diplomats are testifying Wednesday duringthe
   impeachment inquiry targeting President Donald Trump that the president
   held a deeply negative view of Ukraine as a corrupt country that
   complicated diplomatic efforts to bolster Washington's relations with
   Kyiv and support its fight against Russian separatists in the eastern
   part of the country.

   Catherine Croft, who was working as a Ukraine specialist on the
   National Security Council at the White House, testified to impeachment
   investigators that in 2017 she worked on Trump's plan to provide
   Ukraine with an anti-tank missile system and also staffed his meeting
   with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of the
   annual United Nations General Assembly.

   "Throughout both, I heard -- directly and indirectly -- President Trump
   describe Ukraine as a corrupt country," she said in prepared testimony.

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