Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/471

 "I heard Ambassador Sondland greet the President and explain he was calling from Kyiv. I heard President Trump then clarify that Ambassador Sondland was in Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland replied, yes, he was in Ukraine, and went on to state that President Zelensky, quote, "loves your ass." I then heard President Trump ask, "So he's going to do the investigation?" Ambassador Sondland replied that he is going to do it, adding that President Zelensky will do "anything you ask him to do."$701$"

President Trump has denied that he spoke to Ambassador Sondland on July 26 and told reporters, "I know nothing about that."$702$ But in his public testimony before the Committee, Ambassador Sondland noted that White House call records made available to his legal counsel confirmed that the July 26 call in fact occurred.$703$ Ambassador Sondland further explained that Mr. Holmes's testimony—specifically, a "reference to A$AP Rocky"—refreshed his recollection about the July 26 call, which Ambassador Sondland had not originally disclosed to the Committee.$704$

Although Ambassador Sondland did not believe he mentioned the Bidens by name, he testified that with regard to the substance of his July 26 conversation with President Trump: "I have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations."$705$ He added that he had "no reason" to doubt Mr. Holmes' testimony about the contents of the call, and that he would "have been more surprised if President Trump had not mentioned investigations, particularly given what we were hearing from Mr. Giuliani about the President's concerns."$706$ Asked about his statement to President Trump that President Zelensky "loves your ass," Ambassador Sondland replied: "That sounds like something I would say. That's how President Trump and I communicate, a lot of four-letter words, in this case three letter."$707$

After the call between Ambassador Sondland and President Trump ended, Ambassador Sondland remarked to Mr. Holmes that "the President was in a bad mood," as "was often the case early in the morning."$708$ Mr. Holmes, who had learned about the freeze on U.S. security assistance days earlier, was attempting to clarify the President's thinking, and said he "took the opportunity to ask Ambassador Sondland for his candid impression of the President's views on Ukraine":

"In particular, I asked Ambassador Sondland if it was true that the President did not give a shit about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland agreed that the President did not give a shit about Ukraine. I asked, why not, and Ambassador Sondland stated, the President only cares about, quote, unquote, "big stuff." I noted there was, quote, unquote, big stuff going on in Ukraine, like a war with Russia. And Ambassador Sondland replied that he meant, quote, unquote, "big stuff" that benefits the President, like the, quote, unquote, "Biden investigation" that Mr. Giuliani was pushing. The conversation then moved on to other topics.$709$"

Ambassador Sondland did not dispute the substance of Mr. Holmes' recollection of this discussion. He stated, "I don't recall my exact words, but clearly the President, beginning on May 23, when we met with him in the Oval Office, was not a big fan" of Ukraine. Asked whether President Trump "was a big fan of the investigations," Ambassador Sondland replied: "Apparently so."$710$ Asked to clarify if, during his July 26 conversation with Mr. Holmes, he