Trump implicated in aid ‘hold-up’
Sondland grilled for seven hours by panel
WASHINGTON: A senior US diplomat directly implicated President Donald Trump on Wednesday in a scheme to force Ukraine to probe a political rival, in bombshell testimony to a televised impeachment hearing.
Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, told lawmakers he followed the president’s orders in seeking a “quid pro quo” deal for Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden in exchange for a White House summit.
Mr Sondland said Mr Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani led the effort at Mr Trump’s direction to pressure Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky for the investigation and that top officials in the White House and State Department knew about it.
The unexpectedly damning testimony drew a sharp backlash from Trump who tweeted: “This Witch Hunt must end NOW. So bad for our Country!”.
Mr Trump said he barely knew Mr Sondland and had not spoken to him much, despite the senior diplomat having donated US$1 million (about 30.2 million baht) to his inauguration and testifying that he had spoken to the president some 20 times while ambassador.
Democrats said Mr Sondland’s seven hours of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee had bolstered their case for Mr Trump’s impeachment for what they have labeled “extortion”.
“Today’s testimony is among the most significant evidence to date,” said committee chairman Adam Schiff.
“It goes right to the heart of the issue of bribery as well as other potential high crimes or misdemeanors.”
A succession of Democrats hoping to win the nomination to take on Mr Trump in next year’s election also said the testimony had strengthened the case for impeachment as the issue dominated the opening exchanges in their latest televised primary debate.
Mr Sondland said Mr Trump directed him and two other senior diplomats to work with Mr Giuliani.
From early in the year, Mr Giuliani mounted a pressure campaign on Mr Zelensky’s government to investigate Mr Biden over his son Hunter’s ties to a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, and to probe a conspiracy theory espoused by Mr Trump that Ukraine helped Democrats against him in 2016.
Mr Biden is one of the favorites to challenge Mr Trump in next year’s presidential election.
“Mr Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing the investigations of the 2016 election/ DNC server and Burisma,” Mr Sondland told the panel.
“Mr Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky.”
Far from being a “rogue” operation outside normal US diplomatic channels, Mr Sondland told the hearing top officials — including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — were kept constantly informed.
“We followed the president’s orders,” he said.
While he confirmed the linkage between the investigations and a White House meeting between Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump, he would not attest to allegations that Mr Trump froze $391 million in aid as well to Ukraine to add pressure on Ukraine.
In separate testimony, a Pentagon official appeared to undermine a key Republican defence in the impeachment battle — that Kiev did not even know until late August or even September about the July 18 aid freeze — rendering moot Democrats’ allegations that Mr Trump had effectively extorted Ukraine.
Laura Cooper, the Pentagon official in charge of Ukraine affairs, said that Kiev voiced concern over a holdup in aid on July 25.