Read: State Department official David Holmes' testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry
The House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump released the transcript of David Holmes, the State Department official who overheard a key conversation between President Donald Trump and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
In his opening statement, Holmes testified that he overheard a phone conversation between Sondland and Trump at a restaurant in Ukraine’s capital on July 26, just a day after the conversation between the two foreign leaders at the center of the inquiry. During that conversation, Sondland purportedly told Trump that Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky “loves your ass” and would do “anything you ask him to” when asked about investigations he sought.
He testified behind closed-door on Nov. 15 and was just added to the schedule to testify publicly on Thursday.
More: Impeachment Week 9: Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland headline three days of public hearings
Trump is accused of withholding nearly $400 million of military assistance to Ukraine as well as a White House meeting with Zelensky unless the Ukrainian government opened investigations into Trump's political adversaries, including former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Read Holmes’ full transcript below:
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Impeachment: State Department official David Holmes' testimony
