Washington Democrats Met with Ukrainian officials for Trump Dirt
California Rep. Adam Schiff has labeled the rumored meeting between fellow Washington Democrats and officials from Ukraine “inappropriate”. It is alleged that Washington Democrats met with officials of the European country in a bid to get potentially damaging information on 2016 GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee investigating the alleged Russian interference, said earlier this week, “It wouldn’t be appropriate for the Democrats to get help from the Ukrainian government.”
“It would be problematic to get any kind of support from a foreign government,” he continued.
President Trump and other White House officials have in recent times pointed to a reported meeting in 2016 between Ukrainian Embassy officials and a Democratic National committee consultant. These declarations were made in the wake of revelations that Donald Trump campaign officials accepted a meeting on June 2016 (few months to the elections) with a Russian lawyer, on the possibility of potentially damaging information on Clinton.
“If you are looking for an example of a campaign coordinating with a foreign country or a foreign source, look no further than the DNC, which actually coordinated opposition research with the Ukrainian Embassy,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday. “This is not an accusation. That is an on-the-record action that they took.”
Sarah Sanders was referring to a report in January which cited a meeting between government officials from the European nation where plans to help Clinton undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office were being discussed. It was also reported that they shared damaging information on Donald Trump and his advisers with Clinton allies.
According to the Politico report, a Ukrainian-American DNC operative -- Alexandra Chalupa, who worked in the Clinton White House -- met with officials in the Ukrainian Embassy to expose ties between Donald Trump’s then-top campaign official Paul Manafort and Russia.
The Ukrainian Embassy suggests that Sarah Sanders made these remarks without being informed.
“The Embassy of Ukraine in Washington did not coordinate with the DNC about opposition research,” the embassy said. “While some politicians who are not part of the Ukrainian government might have taken sides during last year’s elections in the U.S., the government of Ukraine did not.”