President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Nov. 20 that he “never met” Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union.
Giuliani posted on Twitter after Sondland spoke to the House Intelligence Committee in an open impeachment hearing in Washington.
“I came into this at Volker’s request,” Giuliani said, referring to Kurt Volker, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine.
“Sondland is speculating based on VERY little contact. I never met him and had very few calls with him, mostly with Volker,” Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City, continued.
“Volker testified I answered their questions and described them as my opinions, NOT demands. I.E., no quid pro quo!”
Guiliani deleted the tweet but later reposted it. He'd earlier written: “During the July 24 conversation @realDonaldTrump agrees to a meeting with Pres. Zelensky without requiring an investigation, any discussion of military aid or any condition whatsoever. This record shows definitively no quid pro quo, which is the same as no bribery. END OF CASE!”
Sondland testified on Wednesday that there was “quid pro quo,” asserting Giuliani asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into Ukraine’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election in exchange for a meeting with Trump.
Sondland also said there wasn’t a link between the requests and military aid to Ukraine.
Trump reviewed aid Congress approved for Ukraine due to corruption concerns but the aid was ultimately sent to the country.
Sondland said he, Volker, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry didn’t want to work with Giuliani.
He also said that when he confronted the president, asking what Trump wanted with Ukraine, Trump said: “I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo.”
“President Trump never told me directly that the aid was conditioned on the meetings,” he also said.
Trump, speaking to reporters in Washington, repeated the “I want nothing” lines.
About Sondland, he added: “This is not a man I know well.”
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