this and he did that for the first couple exchanges. i don t know if he turned the volume down, got used to it, if the president moderated his volume, i don t know, but that s how i was able to hear it? you were able to hear some of what president trump said to president zelensky, is that t right? the first portion of the conversation, yes. what did you hear president trump say to to ambassador sondland? the president say to ambassador sondland? o yeah. he cleared whether he was in ukraine or not he said yes, i m in ukraine and ambassador sondland said, he loves your ass, he will do whatever you want, is he going to do the investigation? you heard president trump ask ambassador sondland isrd he goi to do theon investigation? yes, sir. what was ambassador sondland s response? he said, oh, yeah. he s going to do it. he ll do anything you ask.
june ambassador sondland told you he was in charge of ukraine policy, is that right? that s correct sir, yes. who did he tell you put him in charge of ukraine policy? he told me it was the president. mr. holmes, did you also understand that ambassadorou sondland had been given some authority over ukraine policy from the president? we understood that he had been told to work with mr. giuliani. and did he hold himself out as having direct contact and knowledge of the president s priorities and interests? yes, sir. mr. holmes, i m going to that july 26th date when you overheard the conversation between ambassador sondland and president trump. and i man going to ask you a little bit about the lead up to that conversation. before the lunch that you described, you saidha that you accompanied ambassador sondland, volker and taylor to a meeting
was very important that the zelensky administration stay out of u.s. domestic politics. was is your understanding that president zelensky and the ukrainians were already feeling presh smur pressure to conduct these investigations? yes. dr. hill you testified around this same time in may you learned that president trump was receiving information from someone else at the national security council. iscu that right? that s not quite right. i was told in passing that someone else at the national security council, that the president may want to speak to them because of some materials related toat ukraine. did that person indicate that the president thought that was the director of ukraine? that was correct. it was a very brief conversation. who is the director of ukraine? r director of ukraine is ale vindman.
this never set me back in america. the best part of three decades i have built a career as a nonpartisan, nonpolitical national security professional focusing on europe and eurasia and the former soviet union. i have served our country under three presidents and under president trump as well as in my former position under in my former position as national intelligence officer for russia and eurasia under george w. bush and barack a obama. i was the intelligence committee senior expert on russia and former soviet republic including ukraine. because of my background and experience that as i was asked to join the national security councilti in 2017. at the nsc russia was part of my portfolio but i was responsible for coordinating u.s. policy for all of western europe, all of eastern europe including ukraine, and turkey, along with nato and the european union. i was hired initially by general michael flynn, katie mcfarland and general keith kellogg. but then i started working april
with president zelensky, is that right? that s correct. and you took notes at that meeting? yes, sir. and you reviewed those notes before you came here to testify today? yes. they were helpful to refresh your recollection as to what happened, is that right? they were, yes. during t that meeting, president zelensky said, that on his phone call with president trump the previous day, that three times president trump had mentioned sensitive issues. stu understand what president zelensky was referring to when he said the sensitive issues? i couldn t be sure what he was referring to until i later read the transcript of the july 25th call, but i was aware of various contacts between the three amigos and his government about the set of issues. after you read the call, what did you determine to be the sensitive issues that president zelensky referenced? the burisma/biden investigation. after the meeting with resident zelensky, you testified that ambassador