Mike Pence
Pompeo was not the only Trump official Sondland dragged under the bus last week. According to the ambassador, the vice president was also among those very firmly in the loop. Perhaps most notably, Sondland testified that on September 1, he expressed concerns to Pence about the hold on military aid to Ukraine ahead of the vice president’s trip to Poland, where he was to meet with Zelensky.
“I mentioned to Vice President Pence before the meetings with the Ukrainians that I had concerns that the delay in [U.S. military aid to Ukraine] had become tied to the issue of investigations,” Sondland said. “I recall mentioning that before the Zelensky meeting.”
Sondland could not recall to lawmakers how or whether the vice president responded to his concerns. “I don’t know exactly what I said to him,” Sondland said. “This was a briefing attended by many people and I was invited at the very last minute—I wasn’t scheduled to be there. But I think I spoke up at some point late in the meeting and said it looks like everything is being held up until these statements get made and that’s my, you know, personal belief.” He added, “Again, I don’t recall any exchange or where he asked me any questions. I think he—it was sort of a duly noted response.”
Marc Short, a top aide to Pence, dismissed Sondland’s testimony, saying in a statement “this discussion never happened.” But notably, Jennifer Williams, another Pence aide, testified that Zelensky asked Pence about the aid during the trip, to which the vice president responded with talk of “reforms” Trump sought.
“The V.P. responded by neatly expressing our ongoing support for Ukraine, but wanting to hear from President Zelensky, you know, what the status of his reform efforts were that he could then convey back to the president,” Williams said.
And at the end of the conversation, Pence “assured President Zelensky that there was no change in U.S. policy in terms of our full-throated support for Ukraine and its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and assured that he would convey back to President Trump what he had heard from President Zelensky in terms of Zelensky’s good progress on reforms, so that hopefully we could get a decision on the security assistance as soon as possible,” Williams testified.
John Bolton
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, could fill in substantial parts of the Ukraine saga puzzle. Fiona Hill famously testified that on July 10, Bolton, then her direct boss, directed her to tell White House lawyer John Eisenberg that he wasn’t “part of whatever drug deal” Sondland, Giuliani, and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney were “cooking up” after a meeting with Ukrainian officials during which the ambassador to the European Union specifically mentioned the investigations Trump sought. (Notably, after this meeting, officials on the National Security Council reportedly tried to circumvent Sondland and reached out directly to their Ukrainian counterparts.)
Bolton also met privately with Trump in August in an effort to persuade the president to lift the hold on the military aid to Ukraine, according to the testimony of Tim Morrison, a former senior NSC aide. But what exactly Trump told Bolton is still a question mark. “The extent of my recollection is that Ambassador Bolton simply said he wasn’t ready to do it,” Morrison said. And then there are the hints Bolton has dropped through his lawyer since House Democrats requested his appearance before the committee. Bolton “was personally involved in many of the events, meetings, and conversations about which you have already received testimony, as well as many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far,” Charles Cooper, the former national security adviser’s lawyer, wrote in a letter to the chief House lawyer.