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.
Woke ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson Sees Second Movie Bomb at Box Office in as Many Months
PA Republicans Sound Alarm on Disease Rule Proposal That Would Allow ‘Health Agencies to Enter Any Home’ Without Warrant
Ex-Democrat shares abortion pill experience that left her ‘hemorrhaging in the bath’
Trump-backed Iowa US Senate hopeful says Iran war must ‘be brought to a successful and immediate end’
2027 Working Dogs Commemorative Coin designs unveiled at the White House
‘Jews for Abdul’ featured in el Sayed campaign video are actually activists with anti-Israel group
Misleading ballot image prompts election review in Virginia
Massachusetts lesbian bar ignites fury after easing mask rules for one night a week
Mamdani fires back at Netanyahu, calls Israeli leader ‘architect of horrific genocide’ ahead of UN visit
Florida AG accuses teacher of labeling student a ‘misogynist’ over ‘conservative views’: ‘She should be fired’
Texas man charged with capital murder after 5-year-old killed in roadway shooting
Harris keeps 2028 door open as she hits midterm campaign trail, warns ‘28 won’t matter’ without 2026
Takaichi and victim families make multifront plea for US to help Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea
‘Big Sister’ warning resurfaces as Massachusetts expands home visits after Clancy trial
White House Official Says Fox News and Reporter Jacqui Heinrich Have ‘Revealed Themselves for Who They Truly Are’
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.”
Woke ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson Sees Second Movie Bomb at Box Office in as Many Months
PA Republicans Sound Alarm on Disease Rule Proposal That Would Allow ‘Health Agencies to Enter Any Home’ Without Warrant
Ex-Democrat shares abortion pill experience that left her ‘hemorrhaging in the bath’
Trump-backed Iowa US Senate hopeful says Iran war must ‘be brought to a successful and immediate end’
2027 Working Dogs Commemorative Coin designs unveiled at the White House
‘Jews for Abdul’ featured in el Sayed campaign video are actually activists with anti-Israel group
Misleading ballot image prompts election review in Virginia
Massachusetts lesbian bar ignites fury after easing mask rules for one night a week
Mamdani fires back at Netanyahu, calls Israeli leader ‘architect of horrific genocide’ ahead of UN visit
Florida AG accuses teacher of labeling student a ‘misogynist’ over ‘conservative views’: ‘She should be fired’
Texas man charged with capital murder after 5-year-old killed in roadway shooting
Harris keeps 2028 door open as she hits midterm campaign trail, warns ‘28 won’t matter’ without 2026
Takaichi and victim families make multifront plea for US to help Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea
‘Big Sister’ warning resurfaces as Massachusetts expands home visits after Clancy trial
White House Official Says Fox News and Reporter Jacqui Heinrich Have ‘Revealed Themselves for Who They Truly Are’
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.
