Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/256

 Ambassador Bolton to meet with Oleksandr Danylyuk, then-Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, and Andrey Yermak, an adviser to President Zelensky. Dr. Hill and LTC Vindman from the NSC staff attended as well.

Dr. Hill and LTC Vindman alleged that during the meeting, Ambassador Sondland raised potential Ukrainian actions on investigations, leading Ambassador Bolton to abruptly end the meeting. Dr. Hill recounted that Ambassador Bolton told her to brief the NSC Legal Advisor,John Eisenberg, and said he would not be a part of what he termed a "drug deal."

Although Dr. Hill testified that she confronted Ambassador Sondland over his discussion of investigations, Ambassador Sondland testified in his closed-door deposition that "neither Ambassador Bolton, Dr. Hill, or anyone else on the NSC staff ever expressed any concerns to me about our efforts . . . or, most importantly, any concerns that we were acting improperly." Ambassador Sondland testified in his deposition that he recalled no "unpleasant conversation" with Dr. Hill. Likewise, although Ambassador Volker assessed that the meeting was "not good," he said it was because Danylyuk poorly conveyed the appropriate top-level message to Ambassador Bolton during the meeting.

In his public testimony, Ambassador Volker acknowledged that Ambassador Sondland made a "general comment about investigations," but he disputed that the July 10 meeting ended abruptly. He also testified that preconditions were not discussed during the meeting. Although Ambassador Sondland denied in his closed-door depositions that he raised investigations during July 10 meeting, he acknowledged that he did in his public testimony. Even still, Ambassador Sondland denied that the July 10 meeting ended abruptly: "I don't recall any abrupt ending of the meeting or people storming out or anything like that. That would have been very memorable if someone had stormed out of a meeting, based on something I said." He explained that Dr. Hill never raised concerns to him, and that any discussion of investigations did not mention specific investigations. He testified:

Q. And, in fact, after the meeting, you went out and you took a picture, right? 27