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.

Inside ICE’s battle with local Democrats to convert warehouses into detention centers

Strapped New Yorkers swarm chaotic Mamdani-inspired free grocery store pop-up: We’re ‘in pain’

Trump hits campaign trail in key battleground as race to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene heats up

Is DEI Dead? Jasmine Crockett’s Texas Senate Run Seems Like an Afterthought Following Colbert’s James Talarico Stunt

LATE BREAKING: Massive Guthrie Kidnapping Break – FBI Now Has Names and Photos of Suspects

Hiker dies of hypothermia after slipping off trail near summit of New York’s tallest mountain

Grandmother tells Trump critics to ‘get off the man’s back’ during White House Black History Month event

DHS shutdown leaves local emergency responders on their own amid extreme weather, expert warns

Detroit officers facing termination for allegedly contacting immigration authorities during traffic stops

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani reverses course on homeless encampments after pausing clearings

Trump DOJ probes Michigan schools over gender curriculum, joins lawsuit against LA race-based program

3rd arrested in violent overnight home invasion, multiple illegal aliens accused of sexual assault, kidnapping

Family speaks of ‘profound pain’ after trans dad guns down ex-wife, son at high school hockey game

Democrats risk FEMA disaster funding collapse as DHS shutdown hits Day 5

City-run board cancels lease of Israel drone supplier sparking backlash toward Mamdani: ‘Ludicrous’

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.”