WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – In bombshell new testimony Tuesday one of President Trump’s biggest State Department supporters said he believes there was a quid pro quo in Ukraine.
This comes as House Democrats are releasing more transcripts from key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.
The new testimony comes from an American ambassador who previously testified he had trouble remembering several conversations. But just before the transcript of that testimony was set to be released, he says his memory improved.
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, testified he told a Ukrainian official that U.S. military aid would likely be held up until the country publicly announced corruption investigations that would help President Trump politically.
Sondland changed his testimony after multiple career diplomat witnesses contradicted his last statement.
Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said, “All of the witnesses agree that the president engineered a shakedown of the Ukrainian government.”
Ambassador Sondland also testified that he thought efforts by the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son were “improper.”
Sondland was a major Trump donor before being appointed E.U. ambassador and previously testified that President Trump told him, “I want no quid pro quo. I want Zelensky [Ukraine’s president] to do the right thing.”
The president’s allies are dismissing all the witness testimony, insisting he did nothing wrong in his July call with Zelensky that’s at the heart of the investigation.
Donald Trump Jr. said on CBS This Morning, “My father put the transcript out. Read it. Everything else is opinion.”
House Democrats point to evidence those call notes are incomplete.
More testimony released Tuesday from Kurt Volker shows the former U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine describing that call as “extremely unfortunate.”
Now, House investigators want to hear from acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, calling him to testify Friday. Mulvaney recently came under fire for admitting to a quid pro quo before walking those comments back.
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