Bill Taylor, acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, center, arrives for a House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine, William Taylor, on Wednesday revealed new details about a phone call that happened a day after the president’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which led to House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
The July 26 discussion between Trump and Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador the European Union, was focused on the president’s demand that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, his potential rival in the 2020 presidential election, Taylor said in congressional testimony during the first public impeachment hearing.
The conversation was not previously reported, and it raises new questions about Sondland’s conversations with Trump during the time during which the president was freezing nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated aid to Ukraine.
“Last Friday, a member of my staff told me of events that occurred on July 26,” Taylor testified on Wednesday.
“While Ambassador Volker and I visited the front [in late July], this member of my staff accompanied Ambassador Sondland” to a meeting with a top Ukrainian official in Kiev, Taylor said.
“Following that meeting, in the presence of my staff at a restaurant, Ambassador Sondland called President Trump and told him of his meetings in Kyiv. The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about ‘the investigations.’ Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward,” Taylor recounted.
He added: “Following the call with President Trump, the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for.”
Taylor then told the members of Congress that when he gave his deposition on October 22, he was not aware of this information.
The conversation was previously not reported, and it raises new questions about Sondland’s conversations with Trump during the time during which the president was freezing nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated aid to Ukraine.
A lawyer representing Sondland did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the new testimony from CNBC.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
