WASHINGTON _ Kurt Volker, President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, has stepped down, according to two people familiar with the matter, a day after he was named in a whistleblower's complaint over Trump's telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Volker, a veteran diplomat who took the envoy position as a volunteer, informed the State Department on Friday that he was leaving, said the two people, who asked for anonymity to discuss the matter.
According to the whistleblower, Volker visited the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv the day after Trump spoke with Zelenskiy on July 25, and provided advice about how to "navigate" the American president's request for an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Volker was working in concert with Trump's private lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has tweeted out text messages from Volker in order to argue that the Ukrainian outreach was sanctioned by the State Department.
His resignation was first reported by the State Press, an Arizona State student newspaper.
Volker is the executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University. The institute, named for the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona, is based in Washington, D.C.
He began his diplomatic career during the Reagan administration and rose to become U.S. ambassador to NATO under President George W. Bush.
The whistleblower's complaint led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump.
Earlier Friday, Rep. Eliot Engel, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and two other chairmen, Adam Schiff of Intelligence and Elijah Cummings of Oversight & Reform, had announced that they had scheduled depositions for Volker and four other State Department officials.
Volker's deposition was set for Thursday. Committee officials declined to say if he had agreed to appear, though a person familiar with the matter said that he was expected to do so.
The three chairmen also sent a letter Friday to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, informing him of the dates they had set to question Volker, and the four others. "The failure of any of these department employees to appear for their scheduled depositions shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House's impeachment inquiry."
The same letter said specifically of Volker: "The department has also acknowledged that Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker played a direct role in arranging meetings between Rudy Giuliani, who has no official role in U.S. government," and representatives of Zelenskiy.
