The White House on Tuesday dismissed new developments in the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump as a result of the release of testimony from two key ambassadors.
“Both transcripts released today show there is even less evidence for this illegitimate impeachment sham than previously thought,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
The transcripts were released by the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, prompting a flurry of cable news and media coverage relating to the Democrat effort to impeach President Donald Trump by claiming that there was a “quid pro quo” between the investigation and aid from the United States to Ukraine.
“No amount of salacious media-biased headlines, which are clearly designed to influence the narrative, change the fact that the President has done nothing wrong,” Grisham said.
Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified he told Ukraine that United States aid to Ukraine would “likely not occur” until they delivered a statement promising to investigate “public anticorruption” including an investigation into Burisma, the firm where Hunter Biden sat on the board, and Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election.
The White House noted that Sondland testified he “did not know” that the aid was suspended.
The statement from Grisham read:
Ambassador Sondland squarely states that he did not know, (and still does not know) when, why or by whom the aid was suspended. He also said he ‘presumed’ there was a link to the aid — but cannot identify any solid source for that assumption.
Former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker denied that there was a quid pro quo related to the corruption and the forthcoming military aid communicated to him from U.S. officials or President Donald Trump.
“By contrast, Volker’s testimony confirms there could not have been a quid pro quo because the Ukrainians did not know about the military aid hold at the time,” Grisham said.