© Paolo Verzone—Agence VU for TIME
Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Zelensky, at his office in Kyiv on Dec. 4
Since the start of the public
impeachment hearings in Congress last month, Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to the President of Ukraine, has heard his name come up again and again in witness testimony. He took part in many of the events at the center of the impeachment inquiry, and
the 300-page report released last week by the inquiry mentions Yermak dozens of times.
But in his first interview about those public hearings, Yermak has questioned the recollections of crucial witnesses in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's alleged abuse of his office for political gain.
"Listen, I want to tell you straight," Yermak told
TIME in the interview on Dec. 4, the first time he has openly discussed his views on the public impeachment hearings:
"Of course, now, when I watch these shows on television, my name often comes up, and I see people there whom I recognize, whom I met and know. That is their personal opinion, especially the positions they expressed while under oath. I have my own truth. I know what I know."
The most crucial point at which Yermak's recollection contradicts the testimony of the inquiry's witnesses relates to a meeting in Warsaw on Sept. 1, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. The meeting was part of an ongoing effort by the Zelensky administration to improve ties with the Trump administration.
Comment: Perfect. Greater destruction and carnage can now be fast-tracked by the US thanks to its crazed and war-mad leaders.