This conversation is not definitive evidence that President Trump pressured President Zelensky to investigate his political rival. First, according to Ambassador Sondland, it was not clear that President Trump meant an investigation into the Bidens. In his closed-door deposition, Ambassador Sondland testified that he only had "five or six" conversations with the President and did not mention this particular conversation.[1] In his public testimony, however, Ambassador Sondland suddenly recalled the conversation, saying that it "did not strike me as significant at the time" and that the primary purpose of the call was to discuss rapper A$AP Rocky, who was imprisoned in Sweden.[2] Ambassador Sondland testified that he has no recollection of discussing Vice President Biden or his son, Hunter Biden, with President Trump.[3]
Second, Holmes testified that although he disclosed Ambassador Sondland's conversation with the President to multiple friends on multiple occasions, he did not feel compelled to disclose it to the State Department or Congress until weeks into the impeachment inquiry.[4] Although Holmes testified that he told his boss, Ambassador Taylor, about the call on August 6 and received a "knowing" response, and that he referred to the call often in staff meetings, Ambassador Taylor testified publicly that he was "not aware of this information" at the time of his October 22 deposition, and that he only became aware of the Holmes account on November 8, 2019, two days after his hearing was publicly announced, at which point he referred it (for the first time) to the Legal Adviser for the Department of State.[5]
4. Read-outs of the phone call from both the State Department and the Ukrainian government did not reflect that President Trump pressured President Zelensky to investigate his political rival.
Immediately following the telephone conversation between President Trump and President Zelensky, senior U.S. and Ukrainian government officials provided read-outs of the conversation. According to witness testimony, none of these read-outs indicated that the conversation between the presidents was substantively concerning. Ambassador Volker testified that he received informal read-outs of the call from both his State Department assistant and his high-level Ukrainian contacts.[6] These read-outs did not indicate any concern with the phone call. Ambassador Volker explained:
- ↑ Sondland deposition, supra note 51, at 56.
- ↑ "Impeachment Inquiry: Ambassador Gordon Sondland": Hearing before the H. Perm. Sel. Comm. on Intelligence, 116th Cong. (2019).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Holmes deposition, supra note 51, at 31, 158-62.
- ↑ Id. at 81-82, 121-22, 167; see generally Taylor deposition, supra note 47; Impeachment Inquiry: Ambassador William B. Taylor and Mr. George Kent, supra note 2.
- ↑ Transcribed interview of Ambassador Kurt Volker, in Wash., D.C., at 102-03 (Oct. 3, 2019) [hereinafter "Volker transcribed interview"]. Ambassador Volker's assistant at the time, Catherine Croft, testified that she only received a read-out of the phone call was based on what President Zelensky told Ambassador Volker, Ambassador Taylor, and Ambassador Sondland on July 26. Deposition of Catherine Croft, in Wash., D.C., at 16 (Oct. 30, 2019) [hereinafter "Croft deposition"].
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