Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/276

 A. That's correct.

Q. You had three meetings again with Zelensky and it didn't come up.

A. And two of those, they had never heard about it, as far as I know, so there was no reason for it to come up.

Q. And President Zelensky never made an announcement. This is what I can't believe. And you're their star witness. You're their first witness.

A. Mr. Jordan—

Q. You're the guy. You're the guy based on this, based on – I mean, I've seen church prayer chains that are easier to understand than this.

During his public testimony, Ambassador Sondland made clear that no one had ever told him that the security assistance was tied to Ukraine investigating the President's political rival. In particular, Ambassador Sondland explained that "President Trump never told me directly that the aid was conditioned on the meetings." In an exchange with Rep. Turner, Ambassador Sondland elaborated:

Q. What about the aid? [Ambassador Volker] says that they weren't tied, that the aid was not tied—

A. And I didn't say they were conclusively tied either. I said I was presuming it.

Q. Okay. And so the President never told you they were tied.

A. That is correct.

Q. So your testimony and [Ambassador Volker's] testimony is consistent, and the President did not tie aid to investigations.

A. That is correct.



Q. So no one told you, not just the President. [Mayor] Giuliani didn't tell you. [Acting Chief of Staff] Mulvaney didn't tell you. Nobody— [Secretary] Pompeo didn't tell you. Nobody else on this planet told 47