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.)
Moderate Republicans buck leadership with bid to force vote on Obamacare subsidies as premium cliff looms
Burgum calls California a ‘national security risk’ as Energy chief warns blue states are skewing cost averages
Walz says he would ‘welcome more’ Somalis as fraud investigation intensifies
New Polling Puts Trump in Landslide Lead When It Comes to the Economy, Defying Democrats’ Biggest Mid-Term Narrative
Missing Virginia coach Travis Turner fuels tense school board meeting as judge seals case records: report
Trump tells Mexico to fix cross-border sewage problem flowing into US communities ‘IMMEDIATELY’
It Appears Jasmine Crockett Just Fell for a Trap Set by the Republican Senatorial Committee
Florida man allegedly crashes stolen BMW, gives bizarre explanation to deputies: ‘I teleported’
‘He had years to stop this’: GOP lawmakers blast Walz over massive Minnesota fraud scheme
The most googled people in US for 2025
Judge Boasberg seeks testimony from DOJ ‘whistleblower’ in criminal contempt inquiry
Late Breaking Video: Trump Announces Jerome Powell May Not Actually Be Fed Chair Since He Was Appointed Via Biden’s Autopen
US Chamber of Commerce accused of leading ‘woke corporate America’ as Trump dismantles DEI agenda
Alert: Cause of Death of Mitt Romney’s Sister-in-Law Revealed – Now We Likely Know Exactly Why It Happened, Too
Congressional Democrats widen 2026 battlefield, zero in on new House Republican targets
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.
