Trump envoy changes story in hearing

WASHINGTON－A key actor in US President Donald Trump's alleged effort to pressure Ukraine for dirt on one of his political rivals was expected to change his testimony in an impeachment hearing in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday morning to suggest Trump did so.

In prepared testimony, according to the Washington Post, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is expected to say: "Was there a simple 'quid pro quo' with regard to the requested White House call and meeting? The answer is yes."

With this statement, Sondland would concede that Trump did pressure Ukraine's president in an effort to get him to do a political favor in return for a White House meeting.

Numerous witnesses have fingered Sondland as a central conveyor of Trump's demands that Ukraine investigate potential 2020 rival Joe Biden in exchange for unfreezing US aid to the country.

Previously, in congressional testimony Sondland repeated almost 100 times that he "can't remember" and "can't recall" when pressed over his dealings with Trump and Ukraine.

Initially maintaining that he was unaware that US military aid was being held up in exchange for a probe, he later made a humiliating about-face, amending his testimony to state that he did in fact know that was the case.

In the second week of televised hearings in the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee, the hotel tycoon-turned-diplomat was expected to be confronted with powerful evidence that could force him into refusing to answer, or dramatically offering testimony that implicates Trump.

Sondland's testimony will come a day after Republicans struggled to defend Trump against allegations of abuse of power and charges that he sought to "extort" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During nine hours of testimony on Tuesday, four witnesses described how Trump, Sondland and Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, sought for months to persuade Ukraine to investigate both Biden and a baseless claim that the Kyiv government helped Democrats in the 2016 US elections.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a member of the White House National Security Council, told the committee that Trump's July 25 phone call with Zelensky－seeking a "favor" to investigate Biden and the vague 2016 election meddling claim－was "inappropriate", "improper" and a "partisan play".

"Frankly, I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Vindman said.

"It is improper for the president of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a US citizen and a political opponent."

Sitting next to Vindman, Jennifer Williams, a foreign policy adviser to Vice-President Mike Pence, said she too had doubts about the "unusual" July 25 call, which they both monitored from a separate room.

"The references to specific individuals and investigations such as former vice-president Biden and his son struck me as political in nature, given that the former vice president is a political opponent of the president," she told the panel.

Conspiracy theories

Two other witnesses in a second session, former US special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and National Security Council aide Tim Morrison, supported allegations the White House improperly sought the political assistance.

But both assigned more blame to an "irregular" diplomatic track in the hands of Giuliani and Sondland.

Volker said he worried about "conspiracy theories" that Giuliani "was conveying... to the president".

Morrison said his predecessor warned him of "the Gordon problem", referring to Sondland's Ukraine dealings separate from standard US diplomatic channels.

Republicans and the White House continued to insist that the investigation, which could see Trump impeached as soon as the end of the year, was a political witch hunt.

"We have learned nothing new in today's illegitimate 'impeachment proceedings,'" said White House Spokesperson Stephanie Grisham.