The statement, the Times reported, according the three people briefed, was drafted by Gordon Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, who was then the State Department's envoy to Ukraine.
According to the Times, the statement would have committed Ukraine to investigate an energy company that employed former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. The statement also would have called on the country to investigate what Trump has perceived as Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US election to benefit Hillary Clinton, the paper reported.
Both Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were aware of the statement being written, the Times said. It remains unclear if the statement was ever delivered to Zelensky, according to the newspaper.
Giuliani told CNN's Michael Warren after the Times' story published that he "never saw it or even draft of it."
"This is their testimony if it is and not part of my role," he texted. "They have to explain it. Lots of things going on I didn't know about."
The statement was drafted, the Times said, in the weeks after a July phone call between Trump and Zelensky that has now set off a political storm in Washington after a whistleblower complaint released this past week alleged that Trump abused his official powers "to solicit interference" from Ukraine in the 2020 election and that the White House took steps to cover it up. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
A rough transcript released by the White House shows Trump repeatedly pushed Zelensky to investigate Biden, Trump's potential 2020 political rival, and his son Hunter Biden.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe or Hunter Biden.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced last week she was opening a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump before the whistleblower complaint was made available to lawmakers,
Volker told House investigators Thursday that he urged Ukraine's leadership not to interfere in US politics in a conversation that followed the call between Trump and Zelensky, according to two sources familiar with the testimony.
The former US special envoy for Ukraine's testimony behind closed doors seems to confirm the whistleblower description in the complaint that Volker and another US diplomat "provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the demands that the President made."
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