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.
Watch: Comedian Pete Davidson Calls Out Mamdani on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ – Right Before the Mayor Walks Onstage
GOP Senator Who Had a Party for His Dog Last Week Complains ICE Is ‘Dragging People Away’
Lindsay Clancy’s motion for a finding of not guilty denied weeks after mistrial
Christa Pike’s attorneys say she’s in critical condition after botched lethal injections
Reporter’s Notebook: Congress dodged a fall shutdown, but the real fight looms
British authorities arrest dual national on suspicion of ‘preparation of terrorist acts’ in RAF Fairford case
Breaking: Execution of TN Woman Goes Bad: 2 Lethal Injections Leave Subject Snoring, Very Much Alive
Indian Flydubai pilot ‘recovering well’ in hospital: Ambassador
California governor debate turns into Trump-Newsom proxy war
10 Democrat-held House seats Republicans could flip to save their majority
Trump’s new high-tech government hub holds some bizarre surprises: ‘Enjoy finding them’
Breaking: Israel Says Hijacker ‘Underwent Islamist Radical Indoctrination’ Before Trying to Crash Plane of Jews
Trump handing 1 million Americans Obamacare refund checks in 30 states
National Guard deployment tallies up $49 million in food costs alone
Man Who Took Explosives to Mass for SCOTUS Justices Gets Mindboggling Sentence Thanks to Obama Judge
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.”
Watch: Comedian Pete Davidson Calls Out Mamdani on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ – Right Before the Mayor Walks Onstage
GOP Senator Who Had a Party for His Dog Last Week Complains ICE Is ‘Dragging People Away’
Lindsay Clancy’s motion for a finding of not guilty denied weeks after mistrial
Christa Pike’s attorneys say she’s in critical condition after botched lethal injections
Reporter’s Notebook: Congress dodged a fall shutdown, but the real fight looms
British authorities arrest dual national on suspicion of ‘preparation of terrorist acts’ in RAF Fairford case
Breaking: Execution of TN Woman Goes Bad: 2 Lethal Injections Leave Subject Snoring, Very Much Alive
Indian Flydubai pilot ‘recovering well’ in hospital: Ambassador
California governor debate turns into Trump-Newsom proxy war
10 Democrat-held House seats Republicans could flip to save their majority
Trump’s new high-tech government hub holds some bizarre surprises: ‘Enjoy finding them’
Breaking: Israel Says Hijacker ‘Underwent Islamist Radical Indoctrination’ Before Trying to Crash Plane of Jews
Trump handing 1 million Americans Obamacare refund checks in 30 states
National Guard deployment tallies up $49 million in food costs alone
Man Who Took Explosives to Mass for SCOTUS Justices Gets Mindboggling Sentence Thanks to Obama Judge
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.
