Pompeo, Giuliani knew what they were doing in pressuring Ukraine: The House Intelligence Committee is hearing from Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, on the fourth day of public testimony in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Sondland is testifying Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, Laura Cooper, the Defense Department’s top official on Russia and Ukraine, and David Hale, the under secretary of State for political affairs, will appear before the committee.
Here are the latest developments:
Sondland will say he expressed his concerns about the delay in U.S. aid to Vice President Mike Pence before they met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Warsaw on Sept. 1.
“I mentioned to Vice President Pence before the meetings with the Ukrainians that I had concerns that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations,” Sondland will say, according to his opening statement. “I recall mentioning that before the Zelenskiy meeting.
During the meeting, Zelenskiy raised the issue of security aid with Pence, and the vice president said he would speak to Trump about it, Sondland will say.
Sondland will also say that he pulled Zelenskiy aide Andriy Yermak aside and told him that Sondland believed U.S. aid wouldn’t resume until Ukraine took action on the public statement sought by the U.S.
Sondland also will say, “I really regret that the Ukrainians were placed in that predicament, but I do not regret doing what I could to try to break the logjam and to solve the problem.”
Sondland confirms an account from other witnesses that he called Trump from a restaurant in Kyiv on July 26 but he said he didn’t remember key details. He said he didn’t recall later discussing Joe Biden and his son with David Holmes, the embassy staffer who described the incident.
“I have no reason to doubt their accounts,” Sondland will say in his opening statement. “I would have been more surprised if President Trump had not mentioned investigations, particularly given what we were hearing from Mr. Giuliani about the president’s concerns. However, I have no recollection of discussing Vice President Biden or his son on that call or after the call ended.”
Holmes testified that Sondland called Trump to assure him that the Ukrainian president would commit to “the investigations” that Rudy Giuliani was pushing.
Sondland will say that “everyone was in the loop” on the demand for investigations of Burisma and the 2016 election in exchange for a White House call and a meeting for Ukraine’s president. “It was no secret.”
Sondland will say that among those who got his July 19 email about the demand were Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
“We all understood that these pre-requisites for the White House call and White House meeting reflected President Trump’s desires and requirements,” Sondland will say.
Sondland also provides an email exchange putting Secretary of State Michael Pompeo within the loop of getting Ukraine’s president to appease Trump’s concerns and “break the logjam” on providing the security funds. That would include setting up a meeting in Warsaw “for a short pull-aside” for Trump to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“I would ask Zelenskiy to look him in the eye and tell him that once Ukraine’s new justice folks are in place (mid-Sept), that Ze should be able to move forward publicly and with confidence on those issues of importance to Potus and to the US,” Sondland told Pompeo on Aug. 22. “Hopefully, that will break the logjam.”
Pompeo replied “Yes,” according to Sondland’s opening statement.
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