Ukraine Foreign Minister: U.S. Aid, Investigations Were ‘Never’ Linked

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.

Defeated Virginia Republicans regroup for last chance fight to save House majority

DOJ charges 2 Chinese nationals who allegedly ran overseas cryptocurrency scam center targeting Americans

Lindsey Graham expects Trump’s Iran blockade to go ‘global’

Google engineer stole AI secrets for China, Senate hears in explosive testimony

Pat Fallon launches bid for House Oversight Committee chairman as James Comer’s term limit nears

Suspect accused of hurling chainsaw at deputies during chaotic stolen car chase caught on video

Trump Gives Navy a Shoot-on-Sight Order a Day After Firing its Leader

Watch: Dem Congressional Candidate Accidentally Exposes the Horrors of IVF with Her Pro-Abortion Argument

Memphis dog-walker makes haunting discovery: Bones of 3 children

Overnight ‘Vote-a-Rama’ Ends with Senate Approving ICE Funding Resolution

Ron DeSantis Accepts Hakeem Jeffries’ Challenge, Prepares to Fight Back Against Democrats’ Virginia Power Grab

GOP congressman wants to add Arlington and Alexandria back to DC

Trump admin loosens regulations on state-licensed medical marijuana

Key House committee schedules hearing with embattled ActBlue CEO: ‘Needs to come clean’

Gallego investigated for ‘sexual slur’ in 2013, officials ‘unable to corroborate’

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.”