President Trump’s outgoing top adviser on Russia and Europe told lawmakers Thursday that he didn’t necessarily think there was anything improper about Trump’s phone call to his Ukrainian counterpart, in which the commander in chief urged him to investigate Joe Biden.

“I want to be clear, I was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed,” said Timothy Morrison, a National Security Council aide who said the day before that he was stepping down.

Instead, Morrison thought that Trump’s request to President Volodymyr Zelensky that “I would like you to do us a favor though” by probing Biden and son Hunter would create problems for established US policy in the region, The Washington Post reported.

The US had strongly backed Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and government and business corruption.

But Trump was predicating nearly $400 million in military aid and a White House sit-down on Zelensky making a public announcement of an investigation into the Bidens and the 2016 US election, Morrison said, corroborating the testimony of senior US diplomat William Taylor.

Taylor told House impeachment investigators last week that Morrison gave him the heads up that Trump and his deputies’ wanted to withhold the military aid and White House meeting until Ukraine announced the probe.

Morrison’s testimony came the same day the House voted along party lines on a resolution formalizing the impeachment inquiry and a day after it was reported he planned to leave the Trump administration.

Morrison also told lawmakers he spoke with Taylor again on Sept. 7 to share a “sinking feeling” about a worrisome conversation between Trump and US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, The Washington Post reported, citing sources.

Morrison recounted Trump said he wasn’t seeking a “quid pro quo” but still insisted insist that Zelensky had to publicly announce he was opening the investigation.

Morrison was brought on board at the White House by former National Security Director John Bolton to address arms-control matters and shifted into advising on Russia and Europe.

With Wires