Ukrainian foreign minister Vadym Prystaiko said Thursday that U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland had “never” linked U.S. aid to Ukrainian investigations of the 2016 elections or the Biden’s role in stopping a probe of Burisma.
Prystaiko spoke the day after the first public hearings in the House Intelligence Committee as part of the “impeachment inquiry,” where two witnesses said they came to believe there had been such a link — though only some time after Politico reported on August 28 that aid had been held up by the Trump administration.
One of the witnesses, Chargé d’affaires Bill Taylor, introduced new evidence that a staffer told him recently that he overheard Sondland speaking to President Donald Trump the day after his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, discussing “investigations.” The staffer also told Taylor that Sondland said that Trump was more interested in investigations than anything else.
As Breitbart News’ Kristina Wong noted, that new evidence — which is fourth-hand hearsay, plus opinion — added little new information, but was cited by Democrats and journalists as evidence that aid might have been linked to investigations Trump had asked the new Ukrainian government to pursue.
Second tanker seized near Venezuela as US enforces oil blockade
Meet Minnesota’s fraud ‘mastermind’ accused of playing ‘God,’ wielding ‘fake’ racism claims in Somali scandal
Colorado state senator’s BAC was twice legal limit at time of fatal car crash: Coroner’s report
Elizabeth Smart blasts Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘country club’ prison treatment: ‘Makes me sick’
The council of Trump: Catholicism’s uncomfortable prominence in US politics
Conservatives need to embrace ‘fusion’ of populism, top leader says, calling AmFest scenes are ‘encouraging’
Desperate search for two men underway after fishing boat found empty 70 miles off Florida coast
2028 lines being drawn among conservatives as two top names emerge among AmericaFest activists
Op-Ed: Mamdani’s So-Called ‘Working Retreat’ in the Maldives
Students Protest After Teen Is Allegedly Murdered by Classmate Who Was Known as ‘a Danger to Other Students’
Jasmine Crockett Spirals Into Word Salad Answer When Cornered on Reparations
Inside Stefanik’s exit and how the Trump endorsement that never came was ‘biggest piece’ of the ‘puzzle’
New York Parents Furious as State-Mandated Electric Buses Leave Kids Without Heat in Frigid Temperatures
Sen Murphy warns ‘people are going to die’ as Congress punts on expiring Obamacare subsidies
Luigi Mangione lawyers renew bid to toss death penalty charge, alleging Pam Bondi has a conflict of interest
On Thursday, Prystaiko said that there had been no link in discussions at the time with Sondland, as Reuters reported:
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said on Thursday that U.S. ambassador Gordon Sondland did not explicitly link military aid to Kiev with opening an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Interfax Ukraine reported.
…
“Ambassador Sondland did not tell us, and certainly did not tell me, about a connection between the assistance and the investigations. You should ask him,” Prystaiko said about Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union.
…
“I have never seen a direct relationship between investigations and security assistance,” Prystaiko was quoted as saying by Interfax. “Yes, the investigations were mentioned, you know, in the conversation of the presidents. But there was no clear connection between these events.”
Second tanker seized near Venezuela as US enforces oil blockade
Meet Minnesota’s fraud ‘mastermind’ accused of playing ‘God,’ wielding ‘fake’ racism claims in Somali scandal
Colorado state senator’s BAC was twice legal limit at time of fatal car crash: Coroner’s report
Elizabeth Smart blasts Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘country club’ prison treatment: ‘Makes me sick’
The council of Trump: Catholicism’s uncomfortable prominence in US politics
Conservatives need to embrace ‘fusion’ of populism, top leader says, calling AmFest scenes are ‘encouraging’
Desperate search for two men underway after fishing boat found empty 70 miles off Florida coast
2028 lines being drawn among conservatives as two top names emerge among AmericaFest activists
Op-Ed: Mamdani’s So-Called ‘Working Retreat’ in the Maldives
Students Protest After Teen Is Allegedly Murdered by Classmate Who Was Known as ‘a Danger to Other Students’
Jasmine Crockett Spirals Into Word Salad Answer When Cornered on Reparations
Inside Stefanik’s exit and how the Trump endorsement that never came was ‘biggest piece’ of the ‘puzzle’
New York Parents Furious as State-Mandated Electric Buses Leave Kids Without Heat in Frigid Temperatures
Sen Murphy warns ‘people are going to die’ as Congress punts on expiring Obamacare subsidies
Luigi Mangione lawyers renew bid to toss death penalty charge, alleging Pam Bondi has a conflict of interest
In his closed-door testimony last month, which was released by the House Intelligence Committee several days ago, Sondland told the committee that he had spoken frequently with Prystaiko and other Ukrainian officials during the period in question.
Sondland is due to testify in the public hearings next week.
Story cited here.
