embassy in kieve bolton viewed giuliani as a hand grenade that is going to blow everybody up. and was powerless to prevent the former mayor from engineering former u.s. ambassador to ukraine maria on a bitch is firing in late april or her recall holmes was stunned by the intensity and consistency of media attacks on the avantage by name as a u.s. ambassador and the scope of the allegations that were leveled against her. you have on a vicious dismissal as a result of giuliani's smear campaign was one of several things that unsettled dr hill another was the role of gordon's on land who emerged as a key player in ukraine in ukraine policy in may when he was named as part of the u.s. delegation led by secretary rick perry to president zilinskas inauguration. lieutenant colonel alexander venom and also attended the inauguration and as holmes recalls during a meeting with president selenski took the opportunity to advise the new korean leader to stay out of u.s. domestic politics another concern that arose for dr hill around this time was her discovery of a potential n.s.e. back cha

i returned to kiev on june 17th. in a letter president trump congratulated president zelensky on his election victory and invited him to a meeting in the oval office. once i arrived in kiev i discovered confusing and alarming circumstances. first the encouraging, president zelensky was reforming ukraine in a hurry. he appointed reformist ministers and supported long-stalled anti corruption legislation. he took quick executive action in terms of opening the high anti corruption court with a new parliamentary, he changed the ukrainian constitution to remove absolutely immunity from the source of raw corruption for two decades. the excitement in kiev was palpable. this time could be different, a new ukraine finally breaking from its corrupt post soviet past. yet, i found the confusing and unusual arrangement for making u.s. policy towards ukraine. there appeared to be two channels of u.s. policy making and implementation, one regular and one highly irregular. as the acting ambassador, i had authority over the regular, f

the excitement in kiev was palpable. this time could be different, a you new ukraine finally breaking from its corrupt post-soviet past. and yet, i found it confusing and unusual arrangement for making u.s. policy towards ukraine. there appeared to be two channels of u.s. polymake and implementation. one regular and one highly irregular. as the acting ambassador, i have authority over the regular formal diplomatic processes, including the bulk of the u.s. effort of ukraine against russian invasion to help it defeat corruption. my colleague, deeply assistant secretary of state george kent and our colleagues at the national security council were my main points of contact in washington in this regular channel. this channel is formally responsible for formulating and i don't have seeing the implementation of u.s. foreign policy with respect to ukraine. a policy that is consistently enjoyed strong bipartisan support, both in congress and in all administrations since ukraine's independence from russia in 1991. at the same time

embassy in kiev. the chief agitators on the ukrainian side of the effort were some of the same correct prosecutors i had encountered, particularly -- they were now peddling false information in order to extract revenge against those who had exposed their misconduct, including u.s. diplomats, ukrainian anticorruption officials, and reform minded civil society rootsy crane. during the late spring and summer of 2019, i became alarmed as the efforts bore through to. that -- thethe and assassination of a mastery of out of it. in mid-august, it became clear that giuliani's efforts were now effecting u.s. engagement with ukraine, leveraging president zelensky's desire for a white house meeting. there are and always have been conditionality's placed on our sovereign land guarantees for ukraine, including anticorruption reforms as well as meeting larger stability goals and social safety nets. the international monetary fund does the same thing. congress and the executive branch work together to pick it -- to p

embassy in kiev. the chief agitators on the ukrainian side of this effort were some of the aim corrupt prosecutors i had encountered. they were pedalling false information in order to extract revenge against those who their. during the late spring and summer of 2019, i became alarmed as those efforts bore fruit. they led to the ouster of the ambassador and hampered u.s. efforts to establish rapport with the new administration in ukraine. in mid august, it became clear that guiliani's efforts to gin up politically motivated investigations were affecting u. u. u.s.'s relationship with ukraine. there have been conditionality placed on our sovereign loan guarantees on ukraine. the international monetary fund does the same thing. congress in the executive branch work together to put conditionality on some assistance in the ukraine assistance initiative. regarding my testimony today i'll do my best to answer your questions. questions that will involve issues, conversations and documents that span a number o

embassy in kiev as charse defair. ambassador kent serves in uh eurasian affairs overseeing ukraine and other countries. he has served over ukraine since 2007. he was deputy in the revolution. in 2017 and 2018, he served as deputy in kiev. mr. kent served and poland, and thailand. all witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any u.s. government official for testifying before congress, including you or any of your colleagues. if you would both rise and raise your right hand, i will begin by swearing you in. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? let the record show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. thank you and please be seated. >> mr. chair

. >> stephen: like kiev.ev, kiev. >> stephen: you know, i spend so much time processing the wheat of the big news stories into the artisanal, whole-grain joke loaf that is my monologue right over there. but sometimes i like to sweep up all the leftover straw and chaff, mix it with oats, and moistened bran mash, and extrude it into the horsefeed pellets of news that is my segment... >> "meanwhile!" ( cheers and applause ) >> stephen: meanwhile! meanwhile, "a gaggle of 40 to 60 wild turkeys have been aggressively terrorizing residents in a 55-and-up community in ocean county, new jersey." well, that seems excessive. when i terrorize old people, it usually only takes me four, maybe five, wild turkeys, at most. meanwhile, the 170-year-old london department store harrods has a tradition of doing an annual christmas grotto but is under fire this year for making "tickets to see father christmas cost £20 per child," but only allowing "harrods rewards customers who are green tier 2 and above," which is people who "hav

celebrations broke out across kiev.ut vladimir putin wasn't going to stand by and let a popular uprising go unchallenged in his own backyard. >> while putin was extremely upset, i think he thought this was a fateful moment where he was about to lose ukraine to the west. >> michael mcfaul was the u.s. ambassador to russia at the time. >> that's why he invaded, that's why he went in. >> days after the closing ceremony in sochi, the russian president launched a stealth operation to occupy ukraine's strategically important crimean peninsula. it was a bold and new type of invasion. soldiers with unmarked uniforms, known only as little green men, blocked roads, took over army bases, took over strategic posts, quietly, efficiently, without violence. russia denied any involvement. only later would putin proudly acknowledge the invasion was carried out by russian commandos. i watched as pro-russian supporters tightened their grip on power and gave the people a vote. but no real choice. >> these men and their russian backers now

embassy in kiev. mr. george kent, currently serves as assistant deputy of secretary in european overseeing policy towards ukraine and other countries. he has served twice in ukraine from 2004 to 2007. he was the deputy political counselor including during it is orange revolution. and from 2015 to 2018, he served as deputy chief of mission in kiev. since joining the foreign service in 1992, mr. kent has served in poland, uzbekistan and thailand. he served as senior anti-corruption coordinator and oversaw programs to strengthen the rule of law. all witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any u.s. government official for testifying before congress, including you or any of your colleagues. if you would both rise and raise your right hand, i

embassy in kiev. mr. george kent, currently serves as deputy assistant secretary in the department of state's brew of european and eurasia affairs, he has served twice in ukraine from 2004 to 2007. he was the deputy political counselor, including during the orange revolution. and from 2015 to 2018, he served as deputy chief of mission in kiev. since joining the foreign serviceed in poland and thailan. he oversaw programs to strengthen the rule of law. all witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against anyone testifying before congress. if you would both rise and raise your right hand, i will begin by swearing you in. do you wear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help

embassy in kiev as sergeant defair. mr. gorge kent currently serves as deputy assistant secretary in the department of european and euro-asia affairs overseeing policy in ukraine and other countries. he has served 22 is in ukraine from 2004 to 2007. he was the deputy counsellor in the orange revolution from 2015 to 2018, he served as deputy chief in kiev. since joining the foreign service in 1992, mr. kent has served in poland,nnd thailand. he also served as the senior anti-corruption coordinator and oversaw programs to strengthen the rule of law. al witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any u.s. government official for testifying before congress, including you or any of your colleagues. if you would both rise, and rise your right hand, i will begin by s

embassy in kiev. he serves as under policy and political adviser to ambassador taylor, who testified earlier in these hearings. a career foreign service officer. he has previously served in boeing ta, the national security council as special assistant to the united states secretary of state. two final points before our witnesses are sworn. first, witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature. all open hearings will be held at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. second, congress will not tolerate reprisal, threat of reprisal for testifying before congress including you or any of your colleagues. if you would please rise. raise your right hand, i will begin by swearing you in. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? let the record show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. thank you. and you may be

embassy in kiev. mr. george kent, currently serves as deputy assistant secretary in the department of state's bureau of european affairs, overseeing police stor towards ukraine. he's served twice in ukraine. he was the deputy political counselor. from 2015 to 2018, he served as deputy chief of mission in kiev. since joining the foreign service in 1992 he has served in poland, uzbekistan and thailand. he also served as the senior anti-corruption coordinator and oversaw programs to strengthen the rule of law. all witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any u.s. government official for testifying before congress, including you or any of your colleagues. if you would both rise and raise your right hand i'll begin by swearing you in. do y

embassy in kiev. the chief agitators on the ukrainian side of this effort were some of those same corrupt former prosecutors i had encountered, particularly victor shokin and yuriy lutsenko. they were now peddling false information in order to extract revenge against those who had exposed their misconduct, including u.s. diplomats, ukrainian anti-corruption officials and reform-minded civil society groups in ukraine. during the late spring and summer of 2019, i became alarmed as those efforts bore fruit. they led to the ouster of ambassador yovanovitch and hampered u.s. efforts to establish rapport with the new zelensky administration in ukraine. in mid-august it became clear to me that giuliani's efforts to gin up politically motivated investigations were now infecting u.s. engagement with ukraine, leveraging president zelensky's desire for a white house meeting. there are and always have been conditionality placed on our sovereign loan guarantees for ukraine. conditions include anti-corruption refor

embassy in kiev. also with us is dr. fiona hill whose job as the national security council senior director for european and russian affairs. she left the nfc in july. dr. hill and mr. holmes provide a unique percentective on issues relating to ukraine. dr. hill from washington, d.c. and mr. holmes from on the ground in kiev. in early 2019, dr. hill became concerned by the increasing prominence of rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer who was as she has testified asserting quite frequently on television in public appearances that he had been given some authority over matters related to ukraine. hill was not alone in her concerns. her boss, national security advisor john bolton was also paying attention as were other nfc and state department officials including holmes at the u.s. embassy in kiev. bolton viewed giuliani as a hand grenade that is going to blow everybody up and harmless to prevent marie yovanovitch's firing in late april or her recall. holmes was stunned by the intensity and consi

ambassador to ukraine was fired from her post in kiev after coming under attack by trump's personal lawyer would have giuliani ahead of her testimony the democratic chair of the intelligence committee defended you bought of it saying she'd been the victim of a smear campaign take a listen. and mastery of on of each was serving our nation's interest in fighting corruption in ukraine but she was considered an obstacle to the further in so the president's personal and political agenda for that she was smeared and cast aside the powers of the presidency are immense but they are not absolute and they cannot be used for corrupt purpose that was adam schiff so opening statements take you now to washington to our correspondent public fully ileus who is on capitol hill he's standing right outside where those hearings are taking place right this moment pablo what have we learned so far from ambassador yavanna bitch. well it's been a pretty dramatic as opening of this 2nd day from the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine marie yvonne a bitch i'm just going to quote some of the things that she said you'v

well let's take that full out from today's hearing to both washington and kiev in the u.s. capital jonathan katz is with the think tank the german marshall fund of the united states and our correspondent in ukraine nick connolly good evening to you both jonathan firstly to you what struck you about the good evening testimony today from memory you have on of it the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. well 1st i just want to say that i had an opportunity to work with mushy ivana beach and she's one of the one of america's top diplomats so there's deep deep disappointment in washington both sides of the aisle and her treatment and today's hearing where she again provided i think very telling testimony about an effort one to oust her a shadow effort by the trump administration to conduct policy that's not in in the interest of the united states but to further donald trump's political own political agenda and so i think the testimony today particularly the moment where the chair of this committee adam schiff read out a tweet highlighting the president once again trying to intimid

embassies in kiev, moscow, london, and mogadishu. the ambassador has received multiple-ors from the department for her work including the presidential's distinguished service awards and diplomacy and human rights award. two points before our witness is sworn. all open hearings will be held at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. second, congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any government official for testifying before congress including you or any of your colleagues if you would please rise and raise your right hand i will begin by swearing you. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god let the record show that the witness has answered in the affirmative. thank you, and please be seated. without objection, your written statement will be made part of the record. with that, ambassador marie yovanovitch you are reco

this week but what should people in ukraine think about the whole thing you'll take you to kiev to find out plus italy declares a state of emergency after catastrophic flooding in venice the highest tides in half a century the government calling the floods quote a blow to the heart of the country. i'm called aspen welcome to the program we begin in the united states where once again children attending school have become the target of an armed shooter 2 people are reported dead and 4 others are in the hospital 2 of those in critical condition a male suspect reportedly open fire at tsongas high school in the city of santa clarita that's near los angeles police say he's in grave condition after turning his gun on himself. the story a sad one and an all too familiar one students file out of saugus high school and ambulances bare away the victims. to school north of los angeles has seen the us is latest mass shooting. somebody just freaked. out the door they went to rush to the door. just put all the chairs in front of the door. everybody. just. in the immediate aftermath of the shooting pol

embassy in kiev.olton called giuliani a hand grenade that would blow everybody up and was powerless fromevent the former mayor carrying out marie yovanovitch's firing. holmes was stunned by the consistency on the tax on yovanovitch and the scope of attacks against her. yovanovitch's dismissal as a result of giuliani's smear campaign was one of a series of things that unsettled dr. hill. another was the role of gordon sondland, who emerged as a key player in ukraine policy in may, when he was named as part of the u.s. delegation to president zelensky's inauguration. lt. col. alexander vindman also attended the inauguration. took the recalls, opportunity to advise the leader to stay out of u.s. domestic politics. another concern that arose for dr. hill was her discovery of the potential nfc factional on ukraine. an nfc staff member who did not work on ukraine, and for her, they have been providing ukraine related information to president trump that dr. hill was not made aware of. according to holmes fol

embassyies in kiev, ottawa, moscow, london, and mogadishu. ambassador yovanovitch has received multiple honors from the department for her diplomatic work including the presidential distinguished service award and the secretary's diplomacy and human rights award. two final points before our witness is sworn. first witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be held at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. second, congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal, or attempt to retaliate against any u.s. government official for testifying before congress including you or any of your colleagues. if you would please rise and raise your right hand i will begin by swearing you in. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? let the record show that the witness has answered in the affirmative. thank you and please

i arrived in kiev on august 17th. from august 17th to the removal of her post, i was ambassador yovanovitch's policy advisor and developed a deep respect for her dedication, determination, and decency. in this time we worked together closely speakinget multiple tim per day and i accompanied her to meetings with ukraine. peace, security, economic growth and reform, and anticorruption and rule of law. these policies match the three policies as issued in public opinion polling. mainly the conflict with russia that restores security and integrity, restores policies, and effective and impartial rule of law institutions that deliver justice in cases of high level official corruption. the efforts on the third policy is special mention because it was ambassador yovanovitch's effort to -- it strained her relationship with some of allies who resisted fully empowering truly independent an anti-corruption institutions. beginning in march 2019, the situation at the embassy and ukraine changed dramatically. specifically the three p

i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev.cently shared their recollection of over hearing this call. for the most part i have no reason to doubt their accounts. >> he's dining with david holmes. a top official at the u.s. embassy in ukraine. >> the restaurant has sort of glass doors that open onto a terrace. we were at the first tables on the terrace. i was directly across from ambassador sondland. we were close enough we could share an appetizer between us. >> in the presence of my staff as a restaurant, sondland called president trump and told him of his meetings in kiev. the member of my staff could hear president trump on the phone asking ambassador sondland about the investigations. >> i heard him announce himself several times along the lines sondland holding for the president. it appeared he was being transferred through layers of switchboard and assistance and noticed sondland misdemeanor changed. and understood he had been connected to president trump. ambassador sondland's phone was not on speaker, i could hear the

she went back to kiev. aware if she's scheduled to testify. >> keep going. i don't want to keep you away from your work, sir. >> thank you, rachel. >> thanks for being here. all right, we'll be right back. e all right, we'll be right back i'm your 70lb st. bernard puppy, and my lack of impulse control, is about to become your problem. ahh no, come on. i saw you eating poop earlier. hey! my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. who's the dummy now? whoof! whoof! so get allstate where good drivers save 40% for avoiding mayhem, like me. sorry! he's a baby! you have fast-acting power over pain, so the whole world looks different. the unbeatable strength and speed of advil liqui-gels. what pain? still fresh... ♪ unstopables in-wash scent booster ♪ downy unstopables >>> tomorrow will be a big day. not only is tomorrow a friday in the year 2019, tomorrow's going to be day two of the impeachment hearings. marie yovanovitch ousted as ukraine ambassador. her testimony and that second impeach

she known as an anti-corruption champion whose tour in kiev was viewed as very successful. michael mckinley said that from her first days, she was excellents with serious, and committed. i remember her being one of those people destined for greater things. her successor, acting chief, described her as very frank. she was very direct, made points clearly, and she was indeed tough on corruption and she named names. she was a strong person and made those charges. in her time in kiev, ambassador yovanovitch was tough on corruption, too tough for some and it made her enemieenemies. you can't promote principaled anti-corruption action without pissing off corrupt people, and she did not just piss off construct ukrainians. but also, certain americans like rudy giuliani, donald trump's personal attorney, and two individuals now dietindicted wi them. they had come to include the president's own son, don junior, promoted a smear campaign on her based on false allegations. there was an effort to push back to get a statement of support from secretary pompeo, but they failed when it beca

economy reporting there from kiev thank you so much. to sports now and in tennis the last time roger federer and novak djokovic faced off was in a grand slam final at wimbledon in july that showdown lasted almost 5 hours with djokovic eventually disputing as rival now at the a.t.p. finals in london federer had the chance to avenge that loss and move on to the semifinals. but it was a long time coming after a run off for years and 5 straight losses roger crowder of finally managed to overcome novak djokovic shop once more the swiss outperformed the su up capitalizing on every mistake this was nothing short of a masterclass the 38 year old fred or a not showing any signs of aging and playing with trademark grace and elegance his dominance didn't let up djokovic eventually folded and federer's seen the victory 6463 played incredible and i knew how to use that's what novak does and i was able to produce i was 7 magical you guys made a super special thank you i can't thank you no. this is did of you news these are our top stories a man has d

right here in moscow and nick connelly in kiev thank you both very much for your perspectives you're watching the news coming up ahead these television moment on britain's colonial era states in kenya saw thousands of people driven from their homes now survivors of that period are calling for compensation and taking their case to the united nations. but 1st the danger of supervisor something researchers have shed light on for years bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics nicknamed super bugs are getting better and better at resisting the effects of medication the answer the world health organization kicks off its annual world antibiotic awareness week we look at a problem scientists say poses a huge threat to global health and development. before the mid 20th century contracting a bacterial infection could easily kill you the age of antibiotics was ushered in by alexander fleming who discovered penicillin back in the late 1920 s. and was later awarded the nobel prize for his work antibiotics at the scene for a paradigm shift in medicine they've saved countless lives but bacteria e

. >> the call took place at a restaurant in kiev in july. sondland saying that zelensky would do anything that president trump asked. >> joining us now to discuss their insights, elena plott, and michael zelden. thanks to all of you. i want to get to a key exchange between president trump and gordon sondland. this gets, in my view, to the root of what the whole ukraine information about. this is david holmes speaking. i asked if the president did not give an expletive about ukraine. ambassador sondland stated the president only cares about big stuff. i noted there was a war with russia going on in ukraine. ambassador sondland said replied that he meant big stuff that benefits the president, like the biden investigation. was the president putting his own political interests above u.s. national security concerns? >> if this is not the definition of self-dealing, i don't know what is. david holmes is thoughtful and detail- detail-orient detail-oriented. he indicates the president didn't care about russian aggression in ukraine, he was singularl

also, on july 26th, shortly after our kiev meetings, i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house, which has finally, finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys, confirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again, given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified information. other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. for the most part, i have no reason to doubt their accounts. it's true that the president speaks loudly at times and it's also true, i think we primarily discussed asap rocky. it's true that the president likes to use colorful language. anyone who has met with him any reasonable amount of time knows this. while i cannot remember the precise details again, the white house has not allowed me to see any readouts of that call

en julio 2019 el secretario mike pompeo le pidiÓ que regresara a la embajada de estados unidos en kievcomo el principal coordinador de lucha contra la corrupciÓn y nuestro programa para fortalecer el imperio de la ley las declaraciones de los testigos no son confidenciales y es el mismo nivel de las audiencias pÚblicas cualquier informaciÓn que tocara elementos confidencial el congreso no va a tolerar cualquier tentativa por rendir testimonio ante el congreso incluyendo usted o cualquiera de sus cole cuga si ustedes se pon de pie y levantan su mano derecha >>> juran solemnemente que el testimonio serÁ la verdad y toda la verdad con la ayuda dios? >>> que conste en el rÉcord que respondieron gracias. por favor >>> tomen asiento >>> despuÉs de escuchar a los testigos tenemos una investigaciÓn cuÁndo podemos tener una respuesta a la carta del 9 de noviembre pidiendo testigos individuales que sean llamados? >> 3 de estos testigos ya estÁn para la semana que viene entonces esos son los suyos y los otros 6 adicionales? >>> se puede preguntar sobre esos testigos adicionales despuÉs del testim

he says i heard sondland greet the president and explain he was calling from kiev.and he replied yesterday, he was ukraine. he went on to state president zelensky loves your ass. then heard him, he's going to do the investigation. sondland replied he's going to do it adding that president zelensky will quote anything you ask him to. even though i did not take notes of these statement, i have a clear recollection that these statements made. i believe my colleagues at the table also knew ambassador sondland was speaking with the president. before i go on, i want to reiterate what he says here. i then heard president trump ask so he's going to do the investigation, referring to the investigation the president asked for the day before. the investigations of his political rival, sondland said he's going to do it add iing th president zelensky will do anything you ask him to. so i'll read more from this statement that discusses more about the conversation that the europe european union ambassador had. then it shifted to sondland's efforts on behalf of the president to ass

the testimony was from david holmes, a staffer and experienced diplomat in kiev.

kiev and in washington...be effective only if the us policy of strong support for ukraine, strong diplomatic support along with robust security, economic, technical assistance, were to continue, if i had the backing of the secretary of state to implement that policy, but are worried about what i heard concerning the role of rudy giuliani, who had made several controversial statements about ukraine and us policy for the country. during my meeting with secretary pompeo on may 28, i made clear to him and the others present that if us policy towards ukraine changed, he would not want me posted there andl he would not want me posted there and i could not stay. he assured me that the policy of strong support for ukraine would continue, and that he would support me in defending that policy. with that understanding, i agree to go back to kiev, because i was appointed by the secretary but not re—confirmed by the senate, my official position was in effect the acting ambassador to ukraine. i returned to kiev onjune 17, c

also on july 26th, shortly after our kiev meetings, i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house, which finally, finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys, confirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again, given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified information. other witnesses have

and so sondland is there in kiev. and he is essentially going to carry out and follow up on the phone call and the fact that we can place him in a restaurant in kiev talking to the president who is talking about investigations. talking about biden. it suggests that there was a clear intent behind president trumps original phone call. it's a counter intelligence foreign policy nightmare. the idea the president of the united states is having an unsecured conversation about something like this in the capitol of ukraine. heavily monitored by russia. it's unbelievable. i think david holmes got it right. it summed up what has anyone the least bit familiar with national security practices just jaw dropping. it's so ab normal. >> let's talk about the options for sondland. does he have any? what about now it's clear that he omitted crucial information from previous testimony. >> it's really getting tighter and tighter for him. this call in particular he never mentioned and it's a hard thing to have forgotten. and it's -- it's

and you were sitting in a restaurant with david holmes in kiev, right, having lunch? >> i think i took the whole team out to lunch after the meeting, yes. >> and it was a meeting one on one meeting you had with andre yermak? >> again, trying to reconstruct a very busy day without the benefit but if someone said i had a meeting and i went to the meeting, i'm not fwhg going to dispute that. >> particularly if that person took notes at the meeting. >> correct. >> or sat outside the door when you didn't let them in? >> i have no control over who goes into a meeting in the ukraine. that was the ukrainians that didn't let him in. >> you met with president zelensky among others that day, tha is that right? that's correct. >> you called president trump from your cell phone, from the restaurant, is that right? >> that's right. >> and this was not a secure line, was it? >> no, it was an open line. >> did you worry that a foreign government may be listening to your phone call with the president of the united states? >> well, i have unclassified conversations all the time from la

embassy in kiev. mr.kent currently serves as deputy assistant secretary in the department of state's bureau of eurasian affairs overseeing policy towards ukraine and other countries. he has served twice in ukraine from 2004-2007. he was the deputy political counselor including during the orange revolution and from 2018 he served as deputy chief of mission in kiev. since joining the phoning from her service in 1992 mr. kent has served in poland, wasstand, and. he also served as the corruption coordinator and oversaw programs to strengthen the rule of law. all witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal, or attempt to retaliate against any u.s. government official for testifying before congress including you or any of your colleagues. if you would both rise and raise your ri

and a reminder, it took place over a cell phone at a restaurant in kiev. nbc news obtained a copy of david holmes' opening statement. here's part of what he said. quote, while ambassador sondland's phone was not on speakerphone i could hear the president's voice on the earpiece through the phone. the president's voice was very loud and recognizable and id ambassador sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time. i heard ambassador sondland greet the president and explain that he was calling from kiev. i heard president trump then clarify ambassador sondland was in ukraine. ambassador sondland replied, yes, he was in ukraine, went on to state, president zelensky loves your ass. i then heard president trump ask, so he's going to do the investigation? ambassador sondland replied that he's going to do it, adding that president zelensky will do anything you ask him to. even though i did not take notes of these statements, i have a clear recollection that these statements were made. i believe that my colleagues who were sitting at the table also

how does the impeachment inquiry look from kiev, and what is at stake? >> we had, i think, good phone call. it was normal, we spoke about many things, and so i think that nobody pushed me. pres. trump: in other words, no pressure. reporter: no impression on ukraine to launch an investigation into joe biden's son hunter. that has been challenged by numerous officials testifying to congress the irrespective of whether this ends in impeachment for trump, what does this mean for his visibly uncomfortable guest, volodymyr zelensky? on the streets of kiev, people are struggling to understand what trump wants from zelensky. >> you would have to ask trump. i don't have a clue. >> trump as his reelection to think about. zelensky wants to be friends with world leaders. that is why he caved in. reporter: as far away as the so-called ukraine scandal might feel to ukrainians, this is about more than just making friends with world leaders. $400 million in military aid, to be precise, dependent on zelensky's willingness to launch an investigation into joe biden's son h

she went back to kiev.currently scheduled to testify. >> congratulations to you and your reporting team that really have had a number of remarkable scoops on this story just in the past few weeks. keep going. i don't want to keep you away from your work, sir. >> thank you, rachel. >> thanks for being here. all right, we'll be right back. all right, we'll be right back there's a company that's talked to even more real people than me: jd power. 448,134 to be exact. they answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say "thank you, real people." you're welcome. we're gonna need a bigger room. steven could only imaginem 24hr to trenjoying a spicy taco.burn, now, his world explodes with flavor. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day all-night protection. can you imagine 24-hours without heartburn? why fin

investigations was probably a part of that agenda our meeting also on july 26th shortly after our kiev meetings i spoke by phone with president trump the white house which has finally finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys confirms this the call lasted 5 minutes i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations again given mr giuliani's demand that president selenski make a public statement about investigations i knew that investigations were important to president trump we did not discuss any classified information other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call for the most part i have no reason to doubt their accounts it's true that the president speaks loudly at times and it's also true i think we primarily discussed asap rocky it's true that the president likes to use colorful language anyone who has met with him it for any reasonable amount of time knows this well i cannot remember the precise details again the white house has not allowed me t

embassy in kiev when that stuff there at the embassy put together a package of actual anti-corruptionorts to pitch to the trump white house to try to persuade president trump that he should schedule a white house meeting with the ukrainian president. turns out those generic nonspecific not individually targeted anti-corruption efforts that they were preparing and that they were pitching to the president, those were of no interest to president trump. quote, within a week or two it became apparent that the anti-corruption efforts on which we were making progress were not making a dent in terms of persuading the white house to schedule a meeting between the presidents. turns out the trump white house wasn't interested in pursuing the anti-corruption stuff. they just wanted investigations into joe biden, right? and that is very damning testimony. if the defense of the president relies on the idea that he really is all about anti-corruption efforts, and that was really what he was trying to get done there. when the people who actually worked on those things couldn't get their calls returne

i know it's kiev, but -- >> kiev is in the ukraine, all right. there you go. >> so you've got gordon sondland holding the phone out from his head because donald trump speaks to loud, which you might be able to testify to. >> loud talker. >> loud talker on the phone. and so now we've landed at the third line of defense, which is, yeah, this all might have happened but it really wasn't that big of a deal and we can't impeach in an election year, one more year, just vote him out of office. >> you know, if republicans have been smart from the very beginning, of course that's a big if, they would have just jumped to the end saying, yeah, it's really bad what he did, really bad, but it's not an impeachable offense. but, guy, we've gotten to the point where there is that drip, drip, drip day in and day out where republicans set up a straw man, it gets knocked down the next day. they set up another straw man, knocked down the next day. americans have been seeing this over the past month now and it's having a rhee impact in the president's approving ratin

in her time in kiev a massive on of it was tough on corruption. too tough on corruption for some and a principled stance made her enemies as george kent told this committee on wednesday. you can't promote principled anti-corruption action without kissing off corrupt people. and ambassador yovanovitch did not just his soft corrupt ukrainians like the corrupt former prosecutor general yuriy lutsenko. certain americans like rudy giuliani donald trump's personal tourney and 2 individuals now indicted who worked with him igor fruman and let parness. fruman parness and others who would come to include the president's own son don junior, promoted to smear campaign against her based on false allegations. at the state department there was an effort to push back. to obtain a statement of support from secretary pompeo. but those efforts failed when it became clear the president trump want to her. some of argued that a president has the ability to nominate or remove any investor he wants that they serve at the pleasure of the president. and that is true. the

state department aide in kiev.olmes said he was told the president did not care about ukraine, only about getting political dirt on democratic political rival joe biden and biden's son hunter. and the person who told him that was the ambassador to the eu gordon sondland. he said, this, quote, i heard ambassador sondland greet the president and explain he was calling from kiev. i heard president trump then clarify the ambassador was in ukraine. ambassador sondland replayed, yes, he was in ukraine. went on to state that president zelensky, quote, loves your ass. i then heard president trump say, so, he's gonna do the investigation? ambassador sondland replied that he's going to do it. adding, quote, he'll do anything you ask him to do. and it comes on the heels of ambassador marie yovanovitch's public appearance. even some republicans were taken back. get, everywhere marie yovanovitch went turned bad the president wrote. he added that ukrainian president had spoken about him. yovanovitch was told about the tweet mome

trouble there was other there were other people in the room in court including a staff member of the kiev embassy of the u.s. who has told investigators behind closed doors that he overheard disturbing them on minutes that the phone call was so loud he heard the president himself say on the phone to saleh that he wanted those investigations from. ukraine and later when this staffer asked on land was it true that the president didn't care about ukraine in fact to use an expletive in describing how little he cared about ukraine sol and agreed that it was indeed the case and said that the president only cared about quote the big star us what was that chord in the song and things that would help the president personally like the biden investigations all right heidi many thanks indeed let's bring in our white house correspondent then kimberly how it could with us live at the white house given all of you we just heard kimberly how worried is the white house about saddam's testimony today. what you think that given some of the testimony that we've heard that this would be concerning to the white