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Home Front: Politix

State Department Aide Confirms He Overheard Trump On Call Discussing Investigation

2019-11-17

[NPR.ORG] A State Department aide testifying behind closed doors on Friday confirmed to House impeachment Sherlocks that he overheard President Trump asking a top U.S. diplomat about political investigations that he was seeking from the president of Ukraine.

The official, David Holmes, was the aide mentioned Wednesday by William Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, as having overheard a phone call between Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the Europe
Europe

...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Union, and Trump.

According to Taylor's testimony, a member of his staff ‐ later identified as Holmes ‐ was with Sondland in Kyiv when he overheard Sondland speaking to Trump on July 26, a day after the call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that sparked the impeachment inquiry. Holmes, according to Taylor, could hear Trump on the phone asking Sondland "about the investigations," and Sondland told the president the Ukrainians "were ready to move forward."

In his statement, Holmes said that Sondland told Trump that Zelenskiy would do "anything you ask him to," and that the Ukrainian leader committed to "do the investigation."

CNN obtained a copy of Holmes' opening statement to the politicians. Holmes' lawyer, Kenneth Wainstein, confirmed to NPR that the statement is an accurate copy of his client's opening statement.

Holmes said he overheard the conversation between the president and Sondland in a restaurant in Kyiv and said the call was loud enough to hear through the phone earpiece, and that Sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time and the president's voice was "very loud and recognizable." He said two other staffers were present at the time.

Holmes told the committee Sondland told the president that Zelenskiy "loves your a**." Holmes also acknowledged that he didn't take contemporaneous notes, but said he has "a clear recollection that these statements were made."

Following the call, according to Taylor, Holmes asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine, and Sondland said that Trump cared more about the investigations of Biden.

In his testimony on Friday, Holmes said the call ended and Sondland said the president "was in a bad mood." Holmes said he then asked Sondland if it was true that the president didn't "give a sh** about Ukraine. Sondland agreed, repeating the president did not "give a sh** about Ukraine." After Holmes asked why that was the case, Sondland responded that the president only cares about "big stuff." Holmes said he noted there was "big stuff" related to Ukraine like the war with Russia, but that Sondland replied he meant "'big stuff' that benefits the president," and cited the "Biden investigation" that Rudy Giuliani, his personal attorney, was pushing.

Posted by:Fred

#10 OR.....he never heard Trump's voice at all and interpreted(wishcasted) from Sondland's audible response. Either way..he's Niedermeier..that sneaky little shit you don't want

Posted by: Frank G 2019-11-17 16:29

#9 Holmes said he overheard the conversation between the president and Sondland in a restaurant in Kyiv....He said two other staffers were present at the time.

Q: What kind of underling can hear the big boss’s phone conversation across a noisy restaurant and snickers with his friends about it rather than quietly walk across the room to drop the man a note letting him know he isn’t as private as he thought?

A: The kind of little shit who would sabotage anyone not part of his supercilious little circle. Fire him for gross insubordination — people like that are poison in the workplace.

Posted by: trailing wife 2019-11-17 15:05

#8 Bombshell testimony!!! We've really got him now! /sarc

Posted by: Abu Uluque 2019-11-17 15:00

#7 Dims, throwing s#!+balls at the barn wall just to see what sticks.

Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2019-11-17 11:43

#6 ^ Yes. Per the rules of The Shitshow.

Posted by: Lex 2019-11-17 10:52

#5 So, basically, we are treated to what people in State Dept think about Trump instead of what Trump did?

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-11-17 10:31

#4 Oh, those poor State Department drones, hearing that their backwater podunk posting isn't that important to the president, who cares more about cleaning out corruption those poor State Department drones have profited from...

Posted by: Rob Crawford 2019-11-17 10:29

#3 None of them have the proper manners not to listen to somebody else's phone call.

Posted by: 3dc 2019-11-17 10:14

#2 We have the transcripts.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-11-17 07:00

#1 Zelenskiy "loves your a** ?

Posted by: Dron66046 2019-11-17 05:20

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