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Another public servant puts the Constitution first, and tells Congress what he heard and saw in a restaurant in Kiev, Ukraine. This time it was a U.S. Embassy Official who was a ‘firsthand witness’ to Trump’s active participation in the Ukrainian extortion plot — primarily for Trump’s own “personal gain”.
NY Times has the breaking details from the closed session Intelligence Hearing today:
Embassy Official Confirms Trump Asked About Ukraine Investigations
by Nicholas Fandos, NYT — Nov. 15, 2019
[...]
The official, David Holmes, testified privately that he was at a restaurant in Ukraine’s capital when he heard Mr. Trump during a cellphone call loudly asking Gordon D. Sondland, the American ambassador to the European Union, if Ukraine’s president had agreed to conduct investigations into his political rivals. Mr. Sondland, who was in Kiev for meetings with top Ukrainian officials at the time, replied in the affirmative.
Mr. Sondland told Mr. Trump that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine “loves your ass,” and would conduct the investigations and “anything you ask him to,” according to two of the people, who described his testimony on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss it.
After the call ended, Mr. Holmes asked it if was true that the president did not care about Ukraine, the people said. The ambassador replied that Mr. Trump cared only about the “big stuff,” like investigations that his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was pushing for, because they affected him personally.
So much for the excuse that Trump was only rooting out “corruption in Ukraine”.
When actuality, Trump more interested in promoting corruption in Ukraine — and in forcing the new President Zelensky to bend to his will. To provide him the fabricated Dirt, that he keenly wanted.
Firsthand witnesses now confirm it. And this was immediately after the July 25th call, too.
‘Interesting Timeline you got there, Donald … it would be a shame if it sinks you.’
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Many thanks to Lusinia, and Lawfareblog, for David Holmes’ Opening Statement:
lawfareblog