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.)
IDF Takes Quick Action After Soldier Caught Smashing Statue of Jesus in Lebanon
Republicans Are Banking on ‘October Surprise’ to Keep Senate Majority: Report
A look into the controversies surrounding the now-former secretary of labor
WATCH: Cory Booker unleashes fiery call for ‘foot soldiers’ at Michigan Dem conference
Leaked memos reveal how Supreme Court steamrolled Obama climate plan in 2016 showdown
How did Michigan’s Democratic convention change major state races?
Scandal-plagued Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigns as Trump labor secretary
Trump Disputes His Energy Secretary’s Assessment of Gas Prices: ‘He’s Wrong on That’
Nancy Mace Calls for ‘Immediate’ Expulsion of Fellow House Republican: ‘The Worst Kind of Pond Scum’
Repeat offender released early from jail now charged with capital murder of pregnant woman
Trump and Johnson to hold Virginia tele-rally against Spanberger’s gerrymander
Who is Joseph diGenova Reagan-era prosecutor tapped to lead ‘grand conspiracy’ investigation
Mob of teens chases college student into campus dorm, unleashes violent attack as police hunt suspects
Eight children dead in Louisiana domestic violence killing spree: What to know
Texas AG Paxton sues Dem fundraising platform ActBlue, alleging ‘fraudulent and foreign donations’
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.
