WH Official Says He Heard US Envoy Press Ukrainians to Probe the Bidens

By Staff, Agencies

An official at the White House’s national Security Council said he heard the US ambassador to the European Union press Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden and his son, according to a transcript released on Friday by Democrats leading the impeachment probe of US President Donald Trump.

Alexander Vindman, a US Army lieutenant colonel and Ukraine expert on Trump’s NSC staff, said there was “no ambiguity” in the remarks he said were made at a meeting in the White House on July 10 by Gordon Sondland, a Trump donor-turned-diplomat now heading the US delegation to the EU.

“He was calling for something, calling for an investigation that didn’t exist into the Bidens and Burisma,” Vindman said.

“My visceral reaction to what was being called for suggested that it was explicit. There was no ambiguity.”

The transcript was one of many released this week by House committees investigating whether Trump pressured Ukraine to carry out a corruption probe into a political rival. Former Vice President Joe Biden is one of Trump’s main Democratic rivals as the president runs for re-election in 2020.

Biden’s son, Hunter, was on the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.

Earlier on Friday, Trump said he was unconcerned about the impeachment inquiry and dismissed the release of transcripts of testimony by US diplomats and others. He also criticized House Democrats for moving their inquiry into the public eye with open, televised hearings next week.