State Dept. Aide Says He Overheard Sondland Tell Trump Ukraine President Would Do ‘Anything’
U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was overheard telling President Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was willing to do “anything” Trump asked him to do, including “the investigation,” according to the opening statement of a new witness in the impeachment inquiry against Trump.
David Holmes, a State Department aide who worked under U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, testified in a closed-door hearing before Congress on Friday. According to his statement to lawmakers obtained by CNN, Sondland told the president that Zelensky “loves (his) ass” in a phone call at a restaurant in Kyiv.
“I then heard President Trump ask, ‘So, he’s gonna do the investigation?’ Ambassador Sondland replied that ‘he’s gonna do it,’ adding that President Zelensky will do ‘anything you ask him to,’” Holmes reportedly told lawmakers.