Trump tries to discredit diplomat's impeachment testimony moments before it begins
President Trump is once again going after a witness in the impeachment inquiry on Twitter during their hearing, this time by trying to undermine diplomat David Holmes' testimony.
Holmes is testifying in the fifth day of public impeachment hearings about having overheard a phone call between Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland in July. He previously told Congress that he could hear Trump asking Sondland on the call if Ukraine was going to "do the investigation," with this coming after Trump pushed for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and the 2016 election.
As the hearing was getting underway, but before Holmes could begin speaking, Trump tried to undermine the idea that Holmes could have possibly overheard him when the call wasn't on speakerphone, declaring in a tweet that although his "hearing is, and has been, great," he has never been able to accomplish such a supposedly improbable feat, despite apparently actively trying to do so.
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"While Ambassador Sondland's phone was not on speakerphone, I could hear the president's voice through the earpiece of the phone," Holmes will tell Congress, according to his prepared opening statement. "The president's voice was very loud and recognizable, and Ambassador Sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time, presumably because of the loud volume."
This is the latest instance of Trump going after an impeachment witness on Twitter after last week attacking former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in a tweet while she was testifying, prompting Democrats to accuse him of witness intimidation.
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