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Sondland Confirms Quid Pro Quo Between Trump, Ukraine

VOA News

   Wednesday was the most explosive day yet in the House impeachment
   hearings and perhaps a crucial moment for the Trump White House when
   U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland testified that there was a
   quid pro quo between President Donald Trump and Ukraine.

   Trump has been denying allegations that he held up nearly $400 million
   in badly needed military aid to Ukraine until Kyiv promised to
   investigate Joe Biden, a possible rival of Trump's in the 2020
   presidential election, for alleged corruption.

   In his opening statement, Sondland said impeachment investigators "have
   frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple
   question: Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously ... the
   answer is yes."

   According to the ambassador, "it was no secret" and a number of senior
   Trump administration officials were "in the loop," including Vice
   President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting White
   House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and former national security
   adviser John Bolton.

   Sondland talked about long and complicated behind-the-scenes
   machinations that started in April, with the election of Ukrainian
   President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and September, when the aid to Ukraine
   was finally released after a 55-day delay.