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.

Reagan National Airport makes drastic change following deadly 2025 midair collision

Watch: Little League Coach Declares, ‘Jesus Is Still Lord’ Live on ESPN

El-Sayed’s half sister offered Oct 7 ‘blessing,’ one year after Hamas attack: ‘Allahu Akbar’

President Trump claims AOC, far-left Democrats are backing away from controversial positions

EXCLUSIVE: Kennedy Center board moves to name grounds ‘President Donald J Trump Plaza’

Netanyahu mocks UK as ‘Islamic Republic of Britain’

Trump Was Right All Along About Democrats’ Late-Term Abortion Agenda

Brave widow of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson comes face to face with Luigi Mangione for first time

Houston police shoot gunman who indiscriminately fired on vehicles, injuring a mother and daughter

CNN’s Scott Jennings is Too Talented for the Network – Which is Why He Should Replace Karoline Leavitt

Exclusive: RNC Condemns DNC Vote to Abolish ICE – Party Has Been Overtaken by Socialists

GSA finds China-made tech labeled ‘Made in USA’ in federal procurement program, orders sweeping review

Darline Graham Nordone nabs Senate runoff endorsement from ex-primary rival Russell Fry

Danish PM calls migrants with ‘Islamic background’ the greatest threat as Europe braces for second migrant wave

‘Raw material for election fraud’: Expert flags voter-roll problems far beyond one state

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.”