https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/national-security-council-official-set-to-testify-in-impeachment-inquiry-is-leaving-his-post/2019/10/30/261285c6-fb62-11e9-8190-6be4deb56e01_story.html

By Carol D. Leonnig, John Hudson and Reis Thebault

Oct. 31, 2019 at 9:13 a.m. EDT

Tim Morrison, the top Russia and Europe adviser on President Trump’s National Security Council, is expected to corroborate the testimony of a senior U.S. diplomat who last week offered to House impeachment investigators the most detailed account to date for how Trump tried to use his office to pressure Ukraine into launching an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden, said a person familiar with the matter.

Morrison is expected to tell impeachment investigators on Thursday that the account offered by Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr., is accurate, particularly that Morrison alerted him to the president’s and his deputies’ push to withhold security aid and a meeting with the Ukrainian president until Ukraine announced an investigation of the Bidens and 2016 election interference, the person said on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions

Morrison will also say that he did not necessarily view the president’s demands as improper or illegal, but rather problematic for U.S. policy in supporting an ally in the region, the person said.

Morrison’s testimony comes a day after he told colleagues he plans to leave the Trump administration. His testimony was sought due to his proximity to critical White House decisions and recurring presence in testimony from previous U.S. officials.

Morrison will corroborate that he spoke with Taylor at least twice in early September. The first conversation was to alert him that the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, had told the Ukrainians that no U.S. aid would be forthcoming until they announced an investigation into Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that had hired former vice president Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, the person said.

Morrison also is expected to tell lawmakers that he spoke with Taylor again on Sept. 7 to share a “sinking feeling” about a worrisome conversation between Trump and Sondland, said the person. Morrison will say that, during that conversation, Trump said he wasn’t seeking a “quid pro quo” but went on to insist that Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky had to publicly announce he was opening investigations of Biden and 2016 election interference.

</snip>