Trump Impeachment News: EU Ambassador Revises Testimony As Two More Transcripts Released

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union amended his testimony before House impeachment investigators to say there was a clear quid pro quo involving release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine and a request for dirt President Trump could use in his re-election campaign.

The revelation came Tuesday as the House Intelligence Committee released both Sondland’s transcript and that of former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker

In July 25 phone call, Trump asked Ukraine President Vladymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and conspiracy theories involving Ukraine intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Trump has maintained he did nothing wrong.

“After a large meeting, I now recall speaking individually with Mr. [Andriy] Yermak [a key Zelensky aide], where I said that resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks,” Sondland said in amended testimony.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the transcript shows there's even less evidence to justify an impeachment inquiry.

“Ambassador Sondland squarely states that he ‘did not know, [and still does not know] when, why or by whom the aid was suspended.’ He also said he ‘presumed’ there was a link to the aid — but cannot identify any solid source for that assumption,” Grisham said.

The release came as House Democrats sought to depose acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who is expected to reject the request. A raft of other administration figures refused to appear before the committee this week. Mulvaney last month acknowledged military aid to Ukraine was tied to Trump’s desire for dirt on Biden

“We do that all the time with foreign policy,” Mulvaney responded when asked whether linking military aide to an investigation constituted a quid pro quo. The remarks were greeted by a backlash and he then spent several days trying to walk them back.

An associate of Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, however, has agreed to appear before the committee though no date was immediately set. Lev Parnas is under federal indictment for funneling illegal campaign contributions to a pro-Trump PAC.

Former Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen, a former Republican congressman who supported Richard Nixon’s impeachment, told the Associated Press he thinks Trump committed impeachable offenses. He characterized the alleged pressure on Zelensky as “a form of bribery.”

“To me it’s an impeachable act,” he said in an appearance at the University of Maine for a lecture series.

“It’s really important that we lay out the facts and say, for the future, that we want to maintain high standards for our president and elected and appointed officials. We don’t want to lower those standards.”

Transcripts of testimony from ousted Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who said she was pushed from her post following a smear campaign by Giuliani, and Michael McKinley, a former adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The transcripts:

Sondland’s testimony and his Nov. 4 addendum can be found here.

Key excerpts from Sondland’s testimony can be found here.

Volker’s testimony can be found here.

Key excerpts from Volker’s testimony can be found here.

Yovanovitch’s testimony can be found here.

Key excerpts from Yovanovitch’s testimony can be found here.

P. Michael McKinley’s testimony can be found here.

Key excerpts from McKinley’s testimony can be found here.

Key excerpts of text messages sent by Volker and first released Oct. 2 can be found here.

Additional Volker’s text messages can be found here.

Key excerpts from additional text messages can be found here.