1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Thank you. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,120 Hey, Mr. President Joe Biden, how are you? 3 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:37,320 Very well indeed. 4 00:00:37,740 --> 00:00:41,400 All the time when I hear your voice, it's a great pleasure for me. 5 00:00:43,300 --> 00:00:46,980 Well, I'm on Air Force Two, and I think we're going to stay connected. 6 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,440 We just took off, and I'm hoping this connection will stay open. 7 00:00:50,440 --> 00:01:09,340 Assuming that there is a new government and a new prosecutor general, I am prepared to do a public signing of the commitment for the billion dollars. 8 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:13,380 Again, I'm not suggesting that that's what you want or don't want. 9 00:01:13,460 --> 00:01:17,000 I'm just suggesting that that's what we're prepared to do. 10 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:22,680 And again, it wouldn't be finalized until, you know, the IMF pieces are written. 11 00:01:23,300 --> 00:01:24,960 Extremely strong motivation. 12 00:01:25,660 --> 00:01:30,540 One of the possible candidates was leader of my faction, Lucenka, who is the public figure. 13 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:37,100 If you think that the political motivated figure would be not very good from your point of view, 14 00:01:37,340 --> 00:01:38,780 I recall this proposal. 15 00:01:38,980 --> 00:01:42,480 I do not propose because nobody knows that I want to propose Lucenka. 16 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:49,040 In this situation, I take all the political motivated figures out from this process. 17 00:01:51,820 --> 00:02:01,480 All right, well, look, let me, let me, when you and I finish speaking, let me huddle with my team, 18 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:04,820 talk over what you and I just talked about. 19 00:02:05,260 --> 00:02:08,140 I agree with you, there is a sense of urgency here. 20 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:30,700 I agree with you. 21 00:02:30,700 --> 00:02:31,600 Petro, can you hear me? 22 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:32,900 Yeah, namaste. 23 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,180 I can hear you better, too. 24 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:37,020 I'm sorry. 25 00:02:37,660 --> 00:02:38,380 I'm sorry. 26 00:02:38,380 --> 00:02:59,360 you were saying I didn't I miss what you were saying yeah so first of all I'd like to be with 27 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:22,220 you instead of Minnesota right now but go ahead yesterday I met me with the general prosecutor 28 00:03:22,220 --> 00:03:30,740 yeah and despite of the fact that we didn't have any corruption charges we don't have any information 29 00:03:30,740 --> 00:03:40,040 about the he doing something wrong I especially ask him no because day before yesterday I especially 30 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:58,220 asked him to resign in as a his position as a state person and despite of defend that he has a support 31 00:03:58,220 --> 00:04:12,560 in the public and as a finish of my meeting with him he promised me to give me the statement on 32 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:27,680 resignation one hour ago he bring me the written statement of his resignation great this is my 33 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:33,560 second step for keeping my process I agree 34 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,000 you 35 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:55,320 I just wanted 36 00:04:55,320 --> 00:05:04,320 to try to urge you to see if there's a way to get by this problem of replacing the prosecutor general 37 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:13,920 you know because from my perception he's blocked the cleanup of the prosecutor general's office and 38 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:20,340 I know the vice president is very concerned about it and I think it'd be good to try to have some 39 00:05:20,340 --> 00:05:29,340 resolution of that before the vice president comes if it's possible and have real clarity as to the steps 40 00:05:29,340 --> 00:05:36,580 that we're going to take forward I think his visit and his speech to the rock are a good opportunity to 41 00:05:36,580 --> 00:05:46,500 showcase your successes as we continue forward but and I think I doubt that any other general prosecutor can 42 00:05:46,500 --> 00:05:49,900 can do that but we provide absolutely transparent 43 00:05:49,900 --> 00:06:00,320 procedure for the selection commission and the procedure was widely accepted both inside the country 44 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:15,180 including my opponents all the NGO all the parliamentary forces they widely accepted as an absolutely transparent and effective situation and as I promised the very next day 45 00:06:15,180 --> 00:06:19,680 before the first of December exactly as I promised to vice president Biden 46 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,180 this person who was selected by the selection commission as appointed now all of us should understand that the prosecutor general office has no any opportunity under the law to make any cases against corruption because it immediately goes already from the first of December the day before yesterday to the new anti-corruption 47 00:06:22,180 --> 00:06:29,180 bureau and the new anti-corruption prosecutor office and the new anti-corruption prosecutor office and the new anti-corruption prosecutor office and I was very proud that Jean-Claude Juncker 48 00:06:29,180 --> 00:06:49,240 when there, Angela Merkel engineer and francois, Angela Merkel and francoisOO, and I wanted everyone 49 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:55,000 I was very proud that Jean-Claude Juncker, Angela Merkel, François Hollande and everybody 50 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:01,560 welcomed it as a very strong position of anti-corruption prosecutor and General Prosecutor Office. 51 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:11,240 For the Prosecutor position and for Inspector General, I am also proud that exactly as we 52 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:19,080 agreed with your Minister of Justice Guy and your Embassy, the Office of Inspector General 53 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:28,200 is already established. It is coordinated not by General Prosecutor, but by the Deputy of General 54 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:35,320 Prosecutor, Mr. Sakvarevice, exactly as we agreed with the Vice President and with the Ambassador. 55 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:44,920 For the other continuation with the Prosecutor General Shokin and other things, I think I will 56 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:50,360 speak with the Vice President Biden and I doubt that it would be theoretically impossible to 57 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,040 make any decision without any arguments before. 58 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:59,720 The Vice President is going to take up the view and we'll have a more detailed discussion about it. 59 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:12,040 Thank you. Thank you, John. 60 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:33,480 Now I have, and I think we can trust each other, the party of Arseniy together with me. 61 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:41,080 They were together during the voting of the General Prosecutor, voting of the government, 62 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:48,600 voting of the IMF, and I hope we have a significant level of support. 63 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:56,280 Unfortunately, this is not fully enough. This is almost majority in the parliament. 64 00:08:56,280 --> 00:09:06,200 And those who go to the United States, Samopomich, Timoshenko, and Leshkov, who do not go there, 65 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:16,200 for different reasons, completely against them. Because this is the political reason. This 66 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:24,680 has nothing to do with the essence of the agreement. This is just a dirty political trick. And that's what I am 67 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:31,800 asking from the Jeffrey. Please do not give the grants to the Samopomich. Do not give them money. 68 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:37,240 Because this is not a financing for the opposition party. This is the financing of the 69 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:46,680 absolutely irresponsible political leader who is doing very bad things for the future of my country, 70 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:53,000 and for Ukraine, for the security, and for the stability. That's, I think, first of all, I am completely 71 00:09:53,000 --> 00:10:02,040 satisfied with the messages they received in Washington. They were quite strong and quite decisive. 72 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:13,960 I think that would be a good idea. If you continue to have a press on Samopomich, because if Leshkov and Timoshenko 73 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:21,480 this is a loss on Samopomich, because you support them, in that situation, they could give a positive 74 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:28,360 response. Because without Samopomich, we cannot even expect any positive things on the constitutional thing. 75 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:37,480 Okay. All right. That would be impossible. Because if I can count on me with a law, election law, 76 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:45,000 I can find out the votes. Without Samopomich, I cannot find out the votes on the constitutional changes. 77 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,200 This is very simple. All right. We will do everything to help you to get the votes. 78 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:17,800 Let me ask you one thing before I forget. Privat Bank. I understand the governor of the bank is 79 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:26,120 is tentative about setting a date certain for the transition to take place. And I'm being told 80 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:32,680 secondhand, I don't know if this is her position for sure, that she is unsure of a date until she gets 81 00:11:32,680 --> 00:11:38,600 an agreement from you. I told, here's what I've told them. I've told them to get back to her and set a date, 82 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:45,560 and I will talk to you about the date. Because this is getting very, very close. What I don't want to 83 00:11:45,560 --> 00:11:53,720 have happen, I don't want Trump to get in a position where he thinks he's about to buy onto a policy, 84 00:11:54,360 --> 00:12:00,760 where the financial system is going to collapse, and he's going to be looked to to pour more money 85 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:05,800 into Ukraine. That's how he'll think about it before he gets sophisticated enough to know the 86 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:19,000 details. So anything you can do to push the Privat Bank to closure so that the IMF loan comes forward, 87 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:27,000 I would respectfully suggest is critically important to your economic as well as physical security. 88 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:34,440 I know it's difficult. I know Kolomorski is a pain in the ass and a problem for everybody. But it 89 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:43,880 really is critical that you guys figure this one out. And you've been good. You've publicly spoken out, 90 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:50,280 as I've asked you to do. You've done that. I just want you to give the what you call the commissioner, 91 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:57,640 the governor, the governor, the governor of the bank to give her some spot. Let her know that you're 92 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:02,600 going to be standing there when she sets a date and moves forward. 93 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:13,000 This is very important what I hear from you. And I think that on the 22nd of November, 94 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:22,840 on Tuesday, I will have a final report from Ernst & Young audit. And we agreed that me, 95 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:33,080 Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Governor, I invite Arsenij and our security officers should meet 96 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:41,320 and make a decision about the date. The only reason I have after 22nd, when I have an audit report, 97 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:48,760 we have a voting of the budget in the parliament, whereas Kolomorski has a significant number of 98 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:58,440 members of parliament. And the Prime Minister asked me to vote budget first and then launch in the process. 99 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:16,680 This is the confidential information, but... I will keep that with me. I will keep that with me. 100 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:30,120 I know you're working hard, but what is your latest plan for a new government? I've heard 101 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:39,480 from my team, you're now looking at the government led by Grossman, the Speaker, and also that 102 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:52,840 that just in the past day or so, I'm not sure the exact timing, but just very recently, you had 103 00:14:53,400 --> 00:15:02,760 Juresco on a Facebook page talking about wanting to consider being Prime Minister with a technocratic 104 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:07,720 government. And I know you need 226 votes for whatever you do. Tell me about what's going on, 105 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:17,080 if you're willing. It was my key priority to avoid early parliamentary election. The new coalition or 106 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:25,400 restore coalition should be pro-European and reform-oriented. Samapomich received my proposal 107 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:33,960 about the technocratic government of Juresco and to join coalition, because the reason of the political 108 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:39,800 crisis is that the three fractions is that the three fractions, Samapomich, Vatikivshina, Timoshenko and 109 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:45,800 Leshko go out from the coalition and we left together with the Prime Minister in a minority. 110 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:57,560 I invite Samapomich and propose them to either to support Juresco or to propose his leader as a next 111 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:06,360 Prime Minister. They said that they are ready to take some time and after a few days they say that they are 112 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:16,600 ready even just to start negotiation about possible coalition but not to be member of coalition. Just 113 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:22,840 vote for that. I said this is not not possible under our constitution. This is impossible. They should 114 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:30,680 sign up personally their membership in coalition. And they put even for that three preconditions. 115 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:39,400 Point number one changes or resignation of the general prosecutor which I said which is already 116 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:47,800 happened because I send the resignation letter to the parliament and now it is in the parliament it 117 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:55,480 should be done immediately. Second the changes in the Central Election Commission. I said I don't understand 118 00:16:55,480 --> 00:17:01,960 why Central Election Commission is part of the coalition when we don't have an election but okay I'm ready 119 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:10,280 to change the Central Election Commission. But the third they say we want to change the election law. 120 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:19,080 I said no because I completely against the early parliamentary election and the changes in the election 121 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:28,120 legislation will be stimulated. For you, for Timoshenko, the early parliamentary election this is completely unacceptable. 122 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:39,080 They said that without this election law which is no connection they do not open even discussion about 123 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:46,200 the coalition membership. And without Sama Pomich, with the rejection of Timoshenko and Leshko, 124 00:17:46,200 --> 00:18:01,080 we don't have Foyevsky 226. As far as I understand, our partners and our American friends have a significant influence on 125 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:14,440 the Sama Pomich leaders. And I asked Pablo to call Tory and I asked to contact Ambassador maybe to increase the pressure 126 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:27,800 and to support Yaretska candidacy by Sama Pomich. Two hours ago immediately after the face 127 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:39,480 book message of Yaretska, I called Sadovy once again. Unfortunately, he's staying somewhere in Europe for the holiday 128 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:51,080 and he said that he is not in a position to support Yaretska and to give now any positive answer. And this 129 00:18:51,080 --> 00:19:00,040 is in the situation when our United States partners give grants to Sama Pomich and give him the significant 130 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:13,880 financial support. In that situation, I hate the idea to keep uncertainty anymore. And now in my building, 131 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:26,280 I have a Yatsenyuk and we started negotiation on other candidates. So if Sama Pomich returns, we're ready to 132 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:34,520 support you to support Yaretska. But if it would be no Sama Pomich, we now start discussion about Groysman. 133 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:42,680 You remember Groysman during your very famous and beautiful speech in the parliament, you have a discussion 134 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:56,920 direction. Now I remember. 135 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:17,640 You know, you know, you and I have talked about this a lot before. I guess Monday is the second 136 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:23,240 anniversary. Remember, I'm counting on you to be the founding father of the modern Ukraine. 137 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:31,160 Thank you, Joe. And I think that the this message is very important. I just want to be a little bit 138 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:39,560 more accurate. So we have no doubt that we should intensively implement the reform. But we should 139 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:45,480 implement the reform with the way that people trust them. Because if people do not trust the reform, 140 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:52,840 this reform is impossible to implement. This is point number one. Point number two, Joe, we do not have 141 00:20:52,840 --> 00:21:01,320 a majority in the parliament. That is the main reason. Do you have to make any calculation, but 142 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:14,760 I have in my party, in my fraction 136 members of parliament, and from them 16 143 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:27,480 are ready to write down the statement for going out from the coalition. He has 81. So altogether, 144 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:39,240 this is 201 and we have lack of more than 20 votes. Even if Laszkoa can return or not return or going like that, 145 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,080 we do not have a physical majority. This is the case. 146 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:52,040 Well, how did you get the reforms passed just this week? Say it again. How did you get the reforms 147 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:58,840 passed this week related to the IMF? Because I asked personally that 148 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:07,480 fraction who go out from the coalition, I mean, Sama Pomich and Timoshenko, that was my special meeting with 149 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:15,560 them. They give me a message that because of the trust to you, Mr. President, we vote for the IMF and 150 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:22,280 for the visa free and for the anti-corruption, but we do not vote just because of the person of the 151 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:30,200 prime minister. And that is his, that is their message. And that's why I'm very happy that we are 152 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:38,440 strong enough and brave enough and lucky enough actually to have these changes now. But we should 153 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:45,160 have an intensive negotiation how to find out the way how to return this fraction back to the coalition. 154 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:53,480 But we demonstrate that everything is okay, people are happy, we have a majority in the parliament. 155 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:59,800 But this is not true. The other fraction we can invite that they, but they speak only with the language 156 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:05,800 of the political corruption. And I hate the idea to, after the Maidan, to buy the votes.