Top diplomat implicates Trump in explosive impeachment testimony

Trump said he barely knew Sondland and had not spoken to him much, despite the senior diplomat having donated $1-million to his inauguration and testifying that he had spoken to the president some 20 times while ambassador.Democrats said Sondland’s seven hours of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee had bolstered their case for Trump’s impeachment for what they have labeled “extortion”.

A succession of Democrats hoping to win the nomination to take on Trump in next year’s election also said the testimony had strengthened the case for impeachment as the issue dominated the opening exchanges in their latest televised primary debate.

He had not implicated the president in earlier private testimony, when he answered scores of questions by saying he could “not remember”. “I never heard from President Trump that aid was conditioned on an announcement” of the investigations, he said, contradicting testimony from two other diplomats.In separate testimony, a Pentagon official appeared to undermine a key Republican defense in the impeachment battle, that Kiev did not even know until late August or even September about the July 18 aid freeze, rendering moot Democrats’ allegations that Trump had extorted Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian embassy staff asked, ‘What is going on with Ukrainian security assistance?” she told the committee.

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