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.

Utah man charged with attempted hate crime after alleged threat to ‘blow up’ synagogue

Trump invokes Defense Production Act to boost US fuel refining capacity at Iowa rally

‘I basically snapped’: New Jersey mayor charges at resident during chaotic council meeting

Old Social Media Post Comes Back to Haunt Virginia Democrat After She’s Arrested on Drug Trafficking Charges

New York Democrat Accused of Attacking Opponent’s Mother Inside Bathroom: ‘Not Fit to Serve’

White House Wants Karoline Leavitt’s Help Finding New Press Secretary After Katie Zacharia Disaster

Watch: Socialists and Democrats Trigger Chaotic Brawl in European Nation’s Parliament

DOJ files hate crime charges against 22-year-old accused of plotting synagogue pipe bombing

NYC votes to end nearly 170-year-old horse carriage tradition as Trump blasts ban, drivers threaten lawsuit

Erika Kirk rips ‘absurd’ 2029 trial timeline for Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin

DOJ opens investigation into Trump ally Corey Lewandowski

Musk: Austin Shooter Was Fired by Tesla After He Struck Woman Who ‘Accidentally Stepped on His Prayer Rug’

Over 100 arrested in California after $2 billion state-federal healthcare fraud crackdowns

Fox News Poll: Nail-biter in Maine Senate race

Man accused of smashing Iwo Jima statue with sledgehammer in Quantico

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.”