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.

Republican Lawmaker Crashes Woke Church’s Gun Buyback Scheme With Ingenious Play

Trump warns Iran’s ‘clock is ticking’: Move ‘fast’ or ‘there won’t be anything left’

Dad Innocently Opens Lid to Weird, Old Bottle – Moments Later the Ground’s on Fire, the Bomb Squad’s Coming, and He’s Headed to the Hospital

Fox News’s Kayleigh McEnany on faith, family, and career

Senate parliamentarian rejects $1 billion in reconciliation bill for White House security, Trump ballroom

US Deportations to El Salvador Double as Bukele, Trump Continue to Clean up Crime in Both Countries

Interrogation video shows trans killer’s calm confession to ambushing parents over gender transition battle

Alarming Change in Middle East Geography Is Setting Stage for the Bible’s Armageddon Prophecy

Bishop Barron contemplates ‘paradox’ of ‘free exercise of religion’ in US ahead of Rededicate 250

Trump, Netanyahu to speak Sunday amid reports of potential revival of military action on Iran

Teen vanished from home decades ago – now feds hope new image and shifting loyalties reveal truth

2026 Oregon primary features a candidate who is a pencil

Trump calls out Rep Thomas Massie: ‘Kentucky, get this LOSER out of politics’ Tuesday

Survivors of Plane Crash Off Florida Were Stranded on a Life Raft With No Idea If Help Was Coming

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.”