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.
Appeals Court Blocks Part of ‘Stop WOKE Act’ in Florida, Allows Professors to Openly Teach Racism Against Whites
Graham Platner Officially Goes Out How You’d Expect: ‘Free Palestine,’ Vulgar Message for ICE, No Accountability or Seriousness
The new ‘Supergirl’ is a cheerless comic book movie
The World Cup comes to America: Passion, resilience, and the politics of hosting
Former top cop warns of loophole exploited by illicit Chinese vape companies ‘targeting our youth’
America’s cheapest city to grab a cheeseburger, fries and soda isn’t where you’d expect
Why do progressives forgive failed government?
Trump warns US would ‘decimate and destroy’ Iran over assassination attempt
California men accused of $100K burglary allegedly took selfies while committing crime
Prosecutors seeking death penalty for deported illegal alien indicted in murder of sister-in-law
New Jersey woman accused of sexually assaulting child, posting video on Snapchat: police
Former Obama press aide accused of stealing cash, credit cards, from Minneapolis coworkers to buy kratom
Kelley Paul: America’s Founders were the ‘first civil rights heroes’
Michigan Senate hopeful calls AIPAC donations ‘legalized bribery,’ remains silent on other donations
Trump Admin Knocks Out Radically Woke ‘Equal Opportunity’ Rule, Makes It Much Harder to Sue Over Racism and Win
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.”
Appeals Court Blocks Part of ‘Stop WOKE Act’ in Florida, Allows Professors to Openly Teach Racism Against Whites
Graham Platner Officially Goes Out How You’d Expect: ‘Free Palestine,’ Vulgar Message for ICE, No Accountability or Seriousness
The new ‘Supergirl’ is a cheerless comic book movie
The World Cup comes to America: Passion, resilience, and the politics of hosting
Former top cop warns of loophole exploited by illicit Chinese vape companies ‘targeting our youth’
America’s cheapest city to grab a cheeseburger, fries and soda isn’t where you’d expect
Why do progressives forgive failed government?
Trump warns US would ‘decimate and destroy’ Iran over assassination attempt
California men accused of $100K burglary allegedly took selfies while committing crime
Prosecutors seeking death penalty for deported illegal alien indicted in murder of sister-in-law
New Jersey woman accused of sexually assaulting child, posting video on Snapchat: police
Former Obama press aide accused of stealing cash, credit cards, from Minneapolis coworkers to buy kratom
Kelley Paul: America’s Founders were the ‘first civil rights heroes’
Michigan Senate hopeful calls AIPAC donations ‘legalized bribery,’ remains silent on other donations
Trump Admin Knocks Out Radically Woke ‘Equal Opportunity’ Rule, Makes It Much Harder to Sue Over Racism and Win
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.
