Trump impeachment hearings
A 2nd official reportedly overheard Trump's phone call with Sondland about 'the investigations'
A second official reportedly overheard President Trump checking in on "the investigations" the day after his infamous Ukraine phone call.
During the first public impeachment hearing Wednesday, the most significant new information came from William Taylor, acting ambassador to Ukraine, who testified that on July 26, one of his staffers was with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland at a restaurant when Sondland called Trump, and Trump could be heard asking about "the investigations." This would have been the day after Trump spoke with Ukraine's president over the phone and pushed him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, which would later spark the impeachment inquiry. The official Taylor was talking about has been identified as David Holmes, who will provide testimony at a closed-door hearing Friday.
Now, The Associated Press reports that a second U.S. embassy staffer, Suriya Jayanti, was also at the table with Sondland that day and overheard the same call. The AP cites a person briefed on what Jayanti overheard.
Asked about this July 26 call with Sondland, Trump said Wednesday he doesn't "recall" it "even a little bit." According to Taylor's testimony, the official who overheard the call was told by Sondland that Trump "cares more about the investigations of Biden."
Many former security officials on Wednesday expressed their bewilderment that Sondland conducted this call with Trump in the middle of a restaurant in Kyiv, with one former White House Situation Room director telling The Washington Post, "in a country that is so wired with Russian intelligence, you can almost take it to the bank that the Russians were listening in on the call."