Ex-NSC official corroborates Sondland said he was directed by Trump on Ukraine

  • 📰 CNN Philippines
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 112 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 48%
  • Publisher: 63%

Philippines Headlines News

Philippines Latest News,Philippines Headlines

Former US National Security Official Tim Morrison testifies that he had heard from Sondland that US aid to Ukraine was conditioned on the country announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

"must announce the opening of the investigations," according to the closed-door deposition of a former National Security Council official.

House impeachment investigators also released Saturday the transcript of Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, who listened into the July 25 call along with Morrison. While Morrison did not take specific issue with the content of Trump's call with Zelensky, both aides described their concerns as they listened to Trump discussing political investigations.

After a September 1 meeting between Zelensky and Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw, Morrison testified he saw Sondland from across the room speaking with a top aide to Zelensky. Afterward, Sondland walked over to Morrison to tell him what he'd said. Morrison testified he had concerns that what Sondland told him was exaggerated or inaccurate. But he said that"as often as I had time to," he worked to confirm Sondland's communications with Trump, and he never discovered an instance where they had not communicated.Morrison said Sondland was a concern for his predecessor, former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill, who is also scheduled to testify publicly next week.

"There was the normal process, where decision-making went through the duly appointed personnel, whether that's the Chief of Mission, Ambassador Taylor, Volker, the appropriate personnel from the Departments of State and Defense and Energy and intelligence agencies and so forth, as we normally do business," Morrison said."And there was this second track, chiefly led by Ambassador Sondland, where Rudy Giuliani's name would come up.

He explained that his concern about it leaking was because he"didn't necessarily fully understand how everybody would use it" but he worried it would wind up"politicizing Ukraine" and cost bipartisan support for the country.Morrison said he also had"concerns" about the Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's judgment in regards to policy.

Williams was asked if on the call Pence gave Zelensky any advice on how to approach Trump when they met at the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting. Williams said Pence told Zelensky,"President Trump would be eager about President Zelensky's progress in his reform agenda."

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 13. in PH

Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Witness overheard US ambassador tell Trump that Ukraine would investigate BidenDavid Holmes told lawmakers in a closed-door impeachment inquiry that Sondland had told Trump the Ukrainian President would do 'anything you ask him to.'
Source: CNN Philippines - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »

Key moments from Day Two of Trump impeachment hearingFormer US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testifies before US Congress about intimidation from Trump and the 'smear campaign' against her.
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »

Malacañang hits U.S. senator Sanders for calling out PH human rights abusesMalacañang once again says foreign officials have no right to meddle in the Philippines' internal affairs. 'Mirror, mirror on the wall..' ang katagang kailanman ay hindi bibigkasin ng pamahalaang ito na takot na takot humarap sa salamin 😏😏😏 Pag china nagkakandarapa pa sa pag aapology. May award pa! talaga! bakit puro chinese na nagmamay-ari ng pinas? bakit puro chinese nasa bbb ni hindutz?
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »

Leaked Russian interference report raises UK vote questionsLONDON — A senior Labour party official says leaks from a report on Russian interference in British politics raises serious questions about the security of next month’s election.
Source: manilabulletin - 🏆 25. / 51 Read more »

MH17 calls ‘show ties between Russian officials, rebels’International investigators looking into the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine released intercepted phone calls on Thursday showing close links between
Source: manilabulletin - 🏆 25. / 51 Read more »

'Terminator' Rajapaksa storms to victory in Sri Lanka electionGotabaya Rajapaksa is the younger brother of the charismatic but controversial ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »