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.
Repeat offender with lengthy rap sheet accused of gunning down Kentucky trooper during traffic stop
Fox News Hires Former Top Andrew Cuomo Aide Who Helped Run Major Cover-Up
Woman on Death Row for Satanic Murder Says She Feels ‘a Kinship’ with Lindsay Clancy
Boeing lands $20B-plus Navy deal for sixth-generation fighter to deliver ‘absolute air superiority’
‘F— her’: Jasmine Crockett torched by ex-Dem colleague over who she left off endorsement list
Suspect accused of killing Pittsburgh pediatrician sexually assaulted woman hours earlier: police
Unearthed audit exposes vulnerable Dem’s handling of COVID relief funds: ‘Gross oversight’
Woke, Anti-Trump Classic Rocker Todd Rundgren Nukes Taylor Swift: ‘Apotheosis of Mediocrity’
Trump Sets the Record Straight After ‘Hoax’ Report on What He Offered Iran
NYC judge orders Mamdani to redo second-home tax rollout
Supreme Court takes up fight over Trump’s third-country illegal alien deportation policy
FBI’s Andrew Bailey blasts exit ‘lies’ as he reveals real reason he’s leaving agency
‘American Idol’ alum Caleb Flynn convicted of murdering his wife
Newly Uncovered Docs Blow Up Jack Smith’s Story About How His Investigation Into Trump Began
Breaking: Jack Smith Admits to Secretly Gathering Banking Info of Thousands of Trump Donors
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.”
Repeat offender with lengthy rap sheet accused of gunning down Kentucky trooper during traffic stop
Fox News Hires Former Top Andrew Cuomo Aide Who Helped Run Major Cover-Up
Woman on Death Row for Satanic Murder Says She Feels ‘a Kinship’ with Lindsay Clancy
Boeing lands $20B-plus Navy deal for sixth-generation fighter to deliver ‘absolute air superiority’
‘F— her’: Jasmine Crockett torched by ex-Dem colleague over who she left off endorsement list
Suspect accused of killing Pittsburgh pediatrician sexually assaulted woman hours earlier: police
Unearthed audit exposes vulnerable Dem’s handling of COVID relief funds: ‘Gross oversight’
Woke, Anti-Trump Classic Rocker Todd Rundgren Nukes Taylor Swift: ‘Apotheosis of Mediocrity’
Trump Sets the Record Straight After ‘Hoax’ Report on What He Offered Iran
NYC judge orders Mamdani to redo second-home tax rollout
Supreme Court takes up fight over Trump’s third-country illegal alien deportation policy
FBI’s Andrew Bailey blasts exit ‘lies’ as he reveals real reason he’s leaving agency
‘American Idol’ alum Caleb Flynn convicted of murdering his wife
Newly Uncovered Docs Blow Up Jack Smith’s Story About How His Investigation Into Trump Began
Breaking: Jack Smith Admits to Secretly Gathering Banking Info of Thousands of Trump Donors
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.
