Aide denies Pence's role in Ukraine scheme after ambassador implicates him
Gordon Sondland testified Wednesday that he spoke with Pence about ‘concerns’ before a Sept. 1 meeting with Ukrainian officials.
A top aide to Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that a conversation described by U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about a link between military aid for Ukraine and investigations “never happened.”
Sondland testified Wednesday that he spoke with Pence before a Sept. 1 meeting with Ukrainian officials “that I had concerns that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations.”
But Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, denied in a statement that Pence spoke to Sondland “about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations,” referencing the gas company where Joe Biden’s son Hunter served on the board.
Short added that Sondland was “never alone” with Pence during the Sept. 1 trip to Poland.
“This alleged discussion recalled by Ambassador Sondland never happened,” Short said.
The House impeachment inquiry focuses significantly on allegations that Donald Trump sought investigations of Biden and his son — and the discredited idea that Ukraine rather than Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election — in return for the badly needed military aid as well as a White House visit. Trump has denied doing anything wrong.
Pence aides have previously maintained that the vice president was unaware of efforts to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to release a statement announcing investigations. And Pence has said no such push came up during his September meeting with Zelenskiy in Warsaw, even as the leaders discussed the U.S. military aid that was under review.
Pence press secretary Katie Waldman said Pence was also unaware of the “brief pull-aside conversation” that Sondland reported having with a top aide to Zelenskiy following the Pence-Zelenskiy meeting. Sondland has said he told Andriy Yermak that the “resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”
Recommended
Biden on abortion rights: President expects to give speech Tuesday on new Florida 6-week ban
‘Having the president of the United States speaking out loud and with confidence about abortion access is a great thing’
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix - April 22, 2024Biden calls for expanded child tax credit, taxes on wealthy in $7.2 trillion budget plan
President Joe Biden released his budget request for the upcoming fiscal year Monday, calling on Congress to stick to the spending agreement brokered last year and to revamp tax laws so that the “wealthy pay their fair share.”
By Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom - March 11, 2024Biden rallies Democrats in Las Vegas: ‘Imagine the nightmare’ if Trump reelected
With a primary win all but inevitable, President Joe Biden used his Sunday appearance in Las Vegas’s Historic Westside to rally his most vocal supporters in a battleground state that delivered for him four years ago.
By April Corbin Girnus, Nevada Current - February 05, 2024