What to know about Thursday’s impeachment hearing
- Fiona Hill and David Holmes will testify before the House Intelligence Committee starting at 9 a.m.
- Hill is a former National Security Council official who raised concerns about Rudy Giuliani and efforts to pressure Ukraine.
- Holmes is a diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Kiev, who overheard EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland discussing investigations with President Trump the day after his July 25 call with the president of Ukraine.
- Read and watch highlights from the Wednesday’s hearings here and here.
- Download the free CBS News app to stream live coverage of all the impeachment hearings.
Washington — Two pivotal witnesses are set to testify at the last public hearing in the impeachment inquiry before Congress leaves for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Fiona Hill, a former senior director for Russia on the National Security Council (NSC), and David Holmes, a diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Kiev, will testify together before the House Intelligence Committee beginning at 9 a.m.
Hill was present for a meeting at the White House on July 10, in which U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland raised the prospect of investigations into the 2016 campaign and a company tied to the Bidens with high-level Ukrainian officials. Hill testified earlier that her boss at the time, National Security Adviser John Bolton, told her to report the incident, which he likened to a “drug deal,” to the top lawyer on the NSC.
Holmes overheard a conversation between Sondland and President Trump on July 26, a day after the president urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open the investigations. Holmes said Sondland told the president that Zelensky would do “anything you ask him to.”
Both have testified previously behind closed doors.
What happened at Wednesday’s hearing
5:00 a.m.: At Wednesday’s first hearing, Sondland told the committees he worked with Rudy Giuliani to pursue a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine, luring the prospect of a White House meeting with Zelensky in exchange for the Ukrainians announcing the investigations.
Sondland said his efforts were known and supported by officials at the highest level of government, including by officials at the NSC and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He also said he raised concerns about a delay in U.S. military aid to Ukraine with Vice President Mike Pence directly. Both Pompeo and Pence denied Sondland’s account on Wednesday.
“The suggestion that we were engaged in some irregular or rogue diplomacy is absolutely false,” Sondland said, citing emails that “show that the leadership of State, [National Security Council] and the White House were all informed about the Ukraine efforts” beginning as early as May.
“Everyone was in the loop,” Sondland said. — Stefan Becket
