Hurd: No Ukrainian officials have told State Department ‘they felt like their arms were being twisted’

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that during the committee’s depositions of State Department officials, it had yet to hear from Ukrainian officials who believed there was a quid pro quo relating to aid to Ukraine.

“What we haven’t heard from any Ukrainian official that felt like there was this arrangement … we haven’t even had a Ukrainian official tell a state department official that they felt like their arms were being twisted,” Hurd, a former CIA officer, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Hurd added that in his experience in intelligence, if foreign officials “hear something, they’re going to go to their contacts at the embassy and say ‘what does that mean?’ and we haven’t gotten any whiff of that.”

Does @HurdontheHIll believe there was a quid pro quo – or an indication of one? “That’s a good question and to me that’s the heart of this matter,” he tells @margbrennan. “If there was a quid pro quo, what was it for?” Hurd notes that a Ukranian official hasn’t confirmed one. pic.twitter.com/hcdFYJonR4

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 20, 2019

The Texas congressman agreed with his colleague on the committee, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who had earlier said that President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani should testify before the committee, telling CBS’ Margaret Brennan “I think having Mayor Giuliani testify is important.”

The White House has long denied the existence of a quid pro quo relating to delayed and eventually released aid to Ukraine after a whistleblower complaint alleged Trump wanted to make it conditional on an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

Last week, however, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said the White House had delayed the aid in an attempt to prompt an investigation of the 2016 election, saying such tactics were common practice and adding “get over it.” Mulvaney has since walked back the claim.