Gordon Sondland won't confirm or deny key details of Trump phone call at Kyiv restaurant
United States Ambassador to the European Gordon Sondland apparently remembers everything but the Bidens.
During his public impeachment testimony Wednesday, Sondland addressed previous private testimony from David Holmes, an official from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, in which Holmes said he overheard Trump loudly ask Sondland over the phone in July at a restaurant in Kyiv if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was "going to do the investigation."
In Sondland's prepared opening statement, he said he remembered the phone call but didn't find it significant at the time (Holmes did not feel the same way) and that he and Trump were primarily discussing A$AP Rocky and his legal troubles in Sweden. Sondland did say he considered most of Holmes' recollection accurate and didn't directly challenge any part of his testimony, but he was adamant that he at least doesn't remember mentioning former Vice President Joe Biden or his son, Hunter, during or after the call with Trump. Holmes, on the other hand, testified that after the call Sondland told him that Trump doesn't care about Ukraine except for "big stuff" like investigating the Bidens.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
During Wednesday's questioning, Sondland said he doesn't think he would have said something like that, though he couldn't recall anything specifically refuting Holmes' claims.
Sondland said he "would have been more surprised if" Trump hadn't mentioned investigations, but he claimed that at the time he was not operating under the assumption that the investigations were referring to the Bidens, which he is aware of now. Though some observers aren't buying that excuse. Tim O'Donnell
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Political cartoons for January 17Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hard hats, compliance, and more
-
Ultimate pasta alla NormaThe Week Recommends White miso and eggplant enrich the flavour of this classic pasta dish
-
Death in Minneapolis: a shooting dividing the USIn the Spotlight Federal response to Renee Good’s shooting suggest priority is ‘vilifying Trump’s perceived enemies rather than informing the public’
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
