Dear Commons Community,

Donald Trump’s special representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, resigned suddenly on Friday, and generated lots of speculation as to his reasons.

A whistleblower complaint from within the intelligence community, released on Thursday, described Volker as trying to “contain the damage” from efforts by Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats.

Volker, who had served in the position on a part-time, unpaid basis since 2017, had sought to help Ukraine’s government resolve its confrontation with Russia-sponsored separatists.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, who are conducting an impeachment investigation of Trump, have sought testimony from Volker relating to a July 25 phone call in which Trump encouraged Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden, a political rival.

Volker’s resignation was first reported by the State Press, a student-run publication at Arizona State University.  Volker was a career diplomat and currently serves as Executive Director of the John McCain Institute for International Leadership which was formed in 2012 and is named after U.S. Senator John McCain from Arizona. Based in Washington, D.C., the McCain Institute is part of Arizona State University.

I think in the coming weeks, we will hear a lot more about Mr. Volker during Congress’ impeachment investigation.

Tony

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