New Lawsuit Alleges Illegal 'Shadow' Ukraine Diplomacy at Trump's Direction
"State Department officials charged with carrying out our foreign policy should not be left in the dark about shadow diplomacy carried out through a secret, alternative channel," the complaint reads.
November 05, 2019 at 03:05 PM
4 minute read
A rough transcript of a telephone conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, held July 25, 2019. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
A new lawsuit is alleging that top State Department officials violated record-keeping laws by using "secret" channels to discuss diplomatic moves on Ukraine, specifically President Donald Trump's desire for Ukrainian officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his family.
In the complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the groups Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, the National Security Archive and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations asked for a court order requiring the State Department to preserve the communications.
"State Department officials charged with carrying out our foreign policy should not be left in the dark about shadow diplomacy carried out through a secret, alternative channel," the complaint reads. "Creating records of U.S. foreign policy is essential to ensure that the critical checks and balances built into our system function as the founders intended, and that the public, private researchers, and historians have access to the full documentary history of this administration."
The complaint, citing media reports, claims that the State Department officials used the secret channels to communicate "at the direction of" Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
It also alleges that some officials, including Giuliani, former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and top Ukrainian diplomat William "Bill" Taylor, used the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp to communicate.
It pointed in particular to texts between Taylor and Volker in arguing that the secret, illegal channel existed, and noted the texts weren't obtained by the State Department until they were subpoenaed by Congress.
"These text messages further evidence the irregular or shadow diplomacy channel that was used to, among other things, place pressure on Ukraine 'to deliver on the President's demand for Ukraine to launch politically motivated investigations,'" the complaint reads.
Trump's efforts to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens are now the subject of an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressional investigators have deposed Volker and Taylor as part of that inquiry.
How the Trump administration has documented its effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens will test the reach of federal records laws, as the White House has faced early claims of trying to suppress the rough transcript of Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The lawsuit does not seek the immediate release of the records. Rather, it requests that they be preserved so they can be released in the future through Freedom of Information Act requests and other methods.
"The failure of Secretary Pompeo and State Department officials to create and preserve records of their conversations and meetings with certain foreign leaders and of their diplomatic efforts conducted through a secret, irregular channel outside of the agency's recordkeeping system have deprived and will continue to deprive the Plaintiffs of access to the documentary history of this administration," the lawsuit said.
"In the process, Plaintiffs and other members of the American public will lose vital information and insight into State Department policies and decision making, which are critical to interpret and prevent illegal or unwise government action."
Attorneys for CREW filed the suit, as did Baker McKenzie lawyers George M. Clarke III and Mireille Oldak.
This complaint echoes another previously filed by CREW over records on Trump's contacts with foreign leaders. That suit also did not seek the immediate release of those records, but claimed that Trump's office was violation of record-keeping law and sought a court order to preserve the documents.
In a court filing last month, Justice Department attorneys committed to maintaining those records for the duration of that litigation.
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