Gordon Sondland, the American envoy to the European Union, was acting at President Donald Trump's instruction in his dealings with Ukraine, and Sondland said that the President told him Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "must announce the opening of the investigations," according to the closed-door deposition of a former National Security Council official.
Former NSC official Tim Morrison testified that he had heard from Sondland that US aid to Ukraine was conditioned on the country announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Morrison's testimony, which was released by House impeachment investigators on Saturday, adds additional corroboration to the testimony of others, like US diplomat Bill Taylor, that Sondland said he was acting at Trump's direction when he was urging Ukraine to announce political investigations.
Morrison's testimony will only fuel questions about Sondland's closed-door interview, which has been called into question based on the testimony others have given about his conversations with Trump. Sondland is scheduled to testify publicly before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.
House impeachment investigators also released Saturday the transcript of Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, who listened into the July 25 call along with Morrison. While Morrison did not take specific issue with the content of Trump's call with Zelensky, both aides described their concerns as they listened to Trump discussing political investigations.
Morrison's testimony also added additional detail explaining how the call ended up on a highly secure server outside of normal channels.
Morrison, who is scheduled to testify publicly on Tuesday, described how Sondland was a "problem" as he operated in what previous witness testimony described as irregular foreign policy channels. And he recalled Sondland speaking directly to Trump about the investigations and the military aid.
"He related to me he was acting -- he was discussing these matters with the President," Morrison said.
After a September 1 meeting between Zelensky and Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw, Morrison testified he saw Sondland from across the room speaking with a top aide to Zelensky. Afterward, Sondland walked over to Morrison to tell him what he'd said.
"He told me that in his -- that what he communicated was that he believed the—what could help them move the aid was if the prosecutor general would to go the mic and announce that he was opening the Burisma investigation," Morrison said, referring to the Ukrainian energy company that hired Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden.
Later, Morrison recounted another conversation with Sondland where the investigations arise -- only this time Trump was more directly involved.
Morrison said on September 7, Sondland informed him about a telephone call he'd held with Trump. "He told me he had just gotten off the phone with the President," Morrison said, adding: "He told me, as is related here in Ambassador Taylor's statement, that there was no quid pro quo, but President Zelensky must announce the opening of the investigations and he should want to do it."
Morrison testified he had concerns that what Sondland told him was exaggerated or inaccurate. But he said that "as often as I had time to," he worked to confirm Sondland's communications with Trump, and he never discovered an instance where they had not communicated.
Morrison, Hill said Sondland was 'a problem'
Morrison said Sondland was a concern for his predecessor, former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill, who is also scheduled to testify publicly next week.
"She described Ambassador Sondland as a problem," Morrison said, recounting a conversation they had about Sondland. "We both discussed that Ukraine was not in the EU, which led to the follow-on question of, why is he involved in Ukraine? And, as I mentioned, she mentioned Burisma, which I nearly did not know what that was."
Morrison...
Comentarios