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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow credible is the witness about to emerge from the secret hearing room?
If he has information, that would be backed up Sondland next Wednesday, then that could indeed be a big story, in my opinion.
This must be torturous for the Republican Party? They know that the crap can get much, much worse, the longer these hearings go on. Trump can be so unpredictable - just as he was today with his unwise and untimely tweet.
BumRushDaShow
(129,885 posts)and at least one other is supposed to testify tomorrow...
BigmanPigman
(51,649 posts)Many people at the table could hear the whole thing, including tRump say "shit" at least twice. That is the way the POTUS speaks and everyone knows it.
BumRushDaShow
(129,885 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,947 posts)not a political appointee, so probably objective and credible.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)kentuck
(111,111 posts)Some of these folks are not beyond attempting a scam.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,947 posts)Why on earth would you think they are running a scam? The only dubious character is Sondland.
kentuck
(111,111 posts)But it will need to be validated by Sondland, in my opinion.
Is the 2nd person also in the Foreign Service? I had not heard?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,947 posts)in this mess.
kentuck
(111,111 posts)then where is the evidence?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,947 posts)If Sondland denies it there are three other people who can confirm it.
BumRushDaShow
(129,885 posts)By Grace Segers
Updated on: November 15, 2019 / 5:45 PM / CBS News
David Holmes, the aide who overheard a phone call between U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland and President Trump, is testifying in a closed hearing with the House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry. Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified in an open hearing before the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday that Holmes, who he only identified as a member of his staff, had informed him of the July 26 call last week.
Holmes is a counselor for political affairs at the U.S. embassy in Kiev, according to the embassy's website.
A source attending the closed hearing told CBS News that the deposition of Holmes was "very damning" for Sondland. The source said that Sondland will "either go to jail or have to turn on the president."
At the first public hearings of the impeachment inquiry, Taylor testified that a member of his staff, whom he did not name, was with Sondland at a restaurant on July 26 when the ambassador placed a call to Mr. Trump.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/staffer-who-overheard-trump-call-with-sondland-testifies-in-closed-hearing/
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)testimony? I believe Taylor and the person that just backed up his account. Taylor appears to be a standup person, Sondland not so much.
kentuck
(111,111 posts)Sondland should be charged with perjury.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,947 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Sondland has already given a deposition which he had to "clarify" when his memory was refreshed.
In the meantime, the relevant telephone call records are being obtained (you betcha) that will confirm the call took place.
Box him in and see what comes out.
kentuck
(111,111 posts)No doubt, he is in a pickle. He's just on the edge of being charged for perjury.
Tanuki
(14,926 posts)....."Holmes completed a graduate degree at Princeton University in 2002.[3]
Career
Holmes joined the United States Foreign Service in 2002. He served in several international assignments, including Kosovo, Bogota, Kabul and New Delhi. On his return to the U.S., Holmes served in Washington, D.C. from 2010 to 2011 as special assistant for South and Central Asia to then Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Joseph Burns. He was later detailed, from 2011 to 2012, to the United States National Security Council staff at the White House as director for Afghanistan. He then became the senior energy officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. [4]
In 2014 the American Foreign Service Associationawarded the William R. Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent to Holmes. The award recognizes "demonstrations of intellectual courage to challenge the system from within." Holmes sought to address bureaucratic divisions within the South Asian region of the U.S. State Department.[5] Holmes reflected on his work on Afghanistan and South Asia when he filed a formal dissent channel message in February 2013, arguing that multiple channels of authority within the State Department covering similar territory "hindered our diplomatic effectiveness." A "dissent cable" is a special State Department mechanism that allows staff to register disagreement about U.S. policies, guaranteeing protections against retribution. [6]
TrumpUkraine scandal
Holmes has been serving as a Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine under U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and then William B. Taylor Jr., who was appointed to the role of chargé d'affaires for Ukraine under the Trump administration. The focus of his Holmes' role is to help "Ukraine consolidate its democracy, reinforce the rule of law, advance justice and anti-corruption reforms, bolster civil society, and promote a responsive, responsible government." Holmes has been called to testify in closed hearings as part of the Trump impeachment inquiry.".....
kentuck
(111,111 posts)I have no doubt but that he is a credible person. But he needs one of the other witnesses, or Sondland himself, to validate it.
Otherwise, every Republican on the Committee would be mocking the possibility of hearing accurately any conversation over a phone in a busy restaurant.
Maybe Sondland will come clean next Wednesday?
2naSalit
(86,897 posts)Isn't the guy from the OMB who figured out that he was replaced when he objected to the continued hold on the lethal aid the one being deposed today? I think the one from Ukraine embassy is on his way here.
kentuck
(111,111 posts)??
2naSalit
(86,897 posts)I had it wrong. I'm glad that Mr. Holmes was there today. It's so mind boggling, it's hard to keep up with all the bombshells dropping.