AP source: 2nd US Official Heard Trump Call with Sondland
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2019 12:03 pm
FILE - President Donald Trump is joined by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, second from right, as he arrives at Melsbroek Air Base, in Brussels, Belgium.
A second U.S. embassy staffer in Kyiv overheard a key cellphone call between President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the European Union discussing the need for Ukrainian officials to pursue "investigations," The Associated Press has learned.
The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor said one of his staffers overhead the call while Sondland was in a restaurant the day after Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that triggered the House impeachment inquiry.
Two US Diplomats: Trump Wanted Ukraine Probes to Help Him Politically
Teaser Description
U.S. President Donald Trump became the third president in modern U.S. history to face open impeachment hearings Wednesday. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives called two key State Department witnesses to begin making the case that Trump abused the power of his office by allegedly pressing Ukraine for information that would help him in the 2020 election. VOA's Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more on the first day of hearings and Republican response from Capitol Hill.
The second diplomatic staffer also at the table was Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer based in Kyiv. A person briefed on what Jayanti overheard spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter under investigation.