Diplomat David Holmes Outlines Corruption, Hypocrisy Of Trump's Ukraine Shakedown
Source: huff post
11/21/2019 11:27 am ET
“This was a demand that President Zelensky personally commit, on a cable news channel, to a specific investigation of President Trump’s political rival.”
WASHINGTON ― The career foreign service official who overheard President Donald Trump speaking with his donor-turned-ambassador about investigations that would benefit Trump’s political campaign said Thursday that the Trump administration’s effort to pull the Ukrainian government into American politics made United States government officials look like hypocrites.
David Holmes, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, pointed out the irony in the U.S. government pushing the Ukrainians to operate with integrity while the president of the United States and his personal attorney pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to take actions to damage former Vice President Joe Biden, who Trump considered his chief political rival.
“While we had advised our Ukrainian counterparts to voice a commitment to following the rule of law and generally investigating credible corruption allegations, this was a demand that President Zelensky personally commit, on a cable news channel, to a specific investigation of President Trump’s political rival,” Holmes testified Thursday.
“They can recognize hypocrisy when they see it?” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked Thursday.
“It’s hard to explain why we would do that,” said Holmes. .................................
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Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/david-holmes-trump-impeachment-ukraine-sondland_n_5dd6a333e4b0e29d72802a0f
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David Holmes, political counselor at the U.S Embassy in Kiev, testifies at a House Intelligence Committee hearing alongside Fiona Hill, the former senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on November 21, 2019.