State Department staffer David Holmes, the aide who claims to have overheard President Donald Trump talking to U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland the day after his July 25 conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, testified in a closed-door impeachment inquiry hearing at the House Intelligence Committee Friday afternoon that he overheard Sondland telling President Trump that President Zelensky “loves your ass.”
The fact that Holmes claimed to have overheard the conversation was revealed on Wednesday, during the first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry, when Charge d’affaires William Taylor updated his own closed-door testimony from last month. The testimony added little, but confirmed Trump was interested in Ukraine undertaking “investigations” into 2016 election interference and the circumstances in which former Vice President Joe Biden forced the ouster of a prosecutor overseeing a probe into Burisma, where his son Hunter was a board member. (The testimony may also, as Breitbart News noted, have violated rules around classified and privileged communications.)
Red Sox Announcer Issues Apology After Calling for On-Field Violence Against Yankees Star During Game
NJ mom fatally stabbed in Times Square during first week back at Bank of America after maternity leave
Times Square Stabber Is Eerily Similar to Leftist Heroes Lindsay Clancy and Luigi Mangione – Postpartum Depression, Dead Corporate Exec
White House highlights ‘steepest’ ever decline in US casualties from cartels amid boat strikes
Dem megadonor among 400 Jewish Michiganders labeled AIPAC insiders for denouncing El-Sayed’s leftist campaign
Judge raises stakes with pivotal ruling in Charlie Kirk assassination case and more top headlines
Nation’s largest teachers union under fire as controversial agenda puts century-old federal charter at risk
DeSantis endorses Florida GOP slate including Byron Donalds in governor’s race
Associated Press Dismisses Government Report on Thousands of Illegals Voting in 2020 – Again
Ohio Supreme Court denies Mackenzie Shirilla’s latest appeal bid in double murder case
Haitian college student in Ohio dies by apparent suicide after losing TPS status, family says
Hasan Piker cheerleads progressives as 80-year-old senator wins six more years
Progressive push hits wall against conservative Democrat in deep-blue district
Washington homeowner hears mysterious banging, calls 911 before police find growling bobcat at top of stairs
One of Congress’ most powerful Democrats just survived a progressive primary revolt
Though Holmes’s hearing was meant to be behind closed doors, a copy of his prepared statement was leaked — as many statements have been, when Democrats believe witnesses will help their case against the president. He said (via CNN):
While Ambassador Sondland’s phone was not on speakerphone, I could hear President Trump’s voice through the earpiece of the phone. The President’s voice was very loud and recognizable, and Ambassador Sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time, primarily because of the loud volume.
I heard Ambassador Sondland greet the President and explain that he was calling from Kyiv. I heard President Trump then clarify that Ambassador Sondland was in Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland replied, yes, he was in Ukraine, and went on to state that President Zelenskyy “loves your ass.” I then heard President Trump ask, “So, he’s gonna do the investigation?” Ambassador Sondland replied that “he’s gonna do it,” adding that President Zelenskyy will do “anything you ask him to.” Even though I did not take notes of these statements, I have a clear recollection that these statements were made.
It is not yet clear whether Homes will be called to testify in public.
Story cited here.
