US House holds 5th public hearing in Trump impeachment probe

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (KUNA) -- US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland on Wednesday delivered a key testimony at the fifth House public hearing in impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Appearing before the House Intelligence Committee, Sondland - a key figure in Trump's bid to get Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, said, "As I testified previously, Mr. Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for a ranging a White House visit for President (Volodymyr) Zelensky (of Ukraine)." He was referring to Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani.
"I followed the directions of the president. We worked with Mr. Giuliani because the president directed us to do so," he said.
"We kept the leadership of these state departments and the (National Security Council) NSC informed of our activities and that included communications with the Secretary of State Pompeo, his counselor, Ulrich Brechbuhl; his Executive Secretary Lisa Kenna and also communications with Ambassador Bolton, Dr. Phil, Mr. Morrison and their staff at the NSC.
"They knew what we were doing and why. I mentioned to Vice President Pence before the meetings with the Ukrainians that I had concerns that the delay in a had become tied to the issue of investigations," Sondland added.
On his part, Chair of the Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff said, "President Trump sought to condition military aid to Ukraine and an Oval Office meeting with the new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in exchange for politically-motivated investigations Trump believed would help his reelection campaign.
"Trump sought to weaken (former vice president) Biden," Schiff stressed.
Meanwhile, Devin G. Nunes, a ranking Republican member of the Intelligence Committee, said, "The American people sent us to Washington to solve problems not to wage scorched earth political warfare against the other party." "This impeachment is not helping the American people, it is not a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars and it is definitely not improving our national security," he added.
In response, President Trump said he read from hand-written notes, recounting Sondland's testimony that POTUS (president of the United States) told him there was no quid pro quo and he wanted nothing from Ukraine.
"That means it's all over," trump wrote in a tweet.
Amid the Democratic-led impeachment, a Gallup poll showed that President Trump's approval has risen back to 43 percent and his disapproval rate has fallen to 54 percent. (end) asj.gb