Reuters
U.S. Senator Graham holds news conference to condemn House of Representatives impeachment inquiry of President Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington
- GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham is refusing to look at new evidence of a quid pro quo involving President Donald Trump and military aid to Ukraine.
- In late September, Graham said evidence of Trump withholding military aid from Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden does "not exist."
- A transcript of testimony from EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland, released by House committees on Tuesday, offers evidence of an explicit quid pro quo in this regard.
- Graham on Tuesday told a reporter he won't look at the new evidence and said the entire process surrounding the inquiry is "BS."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
A little over a month ago, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said anyone looking for evidence of a quid pro quo involving US military aid to Ukraine and a request from the president for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden would be "disappointed."
Now that yet another witness in the impeachment inquiry has confirmed the existence of such a quid pro quo in President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine, the South Carolina lawmaker is refusing to look at the evidence and says he's "written off" the whole process.
"If you're looking for a circumstance where the President of the United States was threatening the Ukraine with cutting off aid unless they investigated his political opponent, you'd be very disappointed. That does not exist," Graham, a top Trump ally in Congress, said on September 25.
The House committees spearheading the impeachment inquiry into Trump on Tuesday released transcripts from the testimony of former US special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, and the US ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
Sondland, in a revision to his earlier testimony to House investigators, confirmed there was a quid pro quo involving $400 million of US military aid to Ukraine and Trump's request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open an inquiry into Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
When asked on Tuesday if he would read the newly released transcripts, Graham told CBS News reporter Alan He that he would not. He added: "I've written the whole process off ... I think this is a bunch of BS."
Sondland, a Trump loyalist, offered damning evidence against the president
In his earlier testimony on October 17, Sondland had stated he only knew of one quid pro quo pushed by Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for an investigation into the Bidens in exchange for a meeting between Trump and Zelensky.
Sondland in an addendum submitted to the committees leading the inquiry, which is dated November 4, stated that testimony from other witnesses "refreshed his recollection."
The EU ambassador acknowledged telling one of Zelensky's advisers that the "resumption of US aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks."
Sondland stated that "by the beginning of September 2019, and in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I presumed that the aid suspension had become linked" to Ukraine not publicly committing to an investigation into Biden, as well as a conspiracy theory linked to the 2016 election, which Trump also discussed in his call with Zelensky.
Trump urged Zelensky to open such an investigation during a July 25 phone call. Days before that, Trump had moved to place the roughly $400 million in military aid on hold.
The July 25 phone call sparked a whistleblower complaint from a US intelligence official. The complaint ultimately catalyzed the impeachment inquiry, which has increasingly revealed that Trump's request for a probe into the Bidens went far beyond a single phone call.
Sondland - a Trump loyalist and Republican campaign donor - was nominated by the president to be the EU ambassador in 2018. The president has asserted, without evidence, that those who've offered damning testimony against him are "Never Trumpers" and motivated by political bias. It will be hard for Trump to make the same case against Sondland.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing as the impeachment inquiry escalates, and has attacked the process as a sham.
Next Story
I spent 2 weeks in India. A highlight was visiting a small mountain town so beautiful it didn't seem real. 
I quit McKinsey after 1.5 years. I was making over $200k but my mental health was shattered.
Some Tesla factory workers realized they were laid off when security scanned their badges and sent them back on shuttles, sources say
Indian Railways to break record with 9,111 trips to meet travel demand this summer, nearly 3,000 more than 2023
India's exports to China, UAE, Russia, Singapore rose in 2023-24
A case for investing in Government securities
Top places to visit in Auli in 2024
Sustainable Transportation Alternatives
