investigating former vice president biden. mr. yermak, the close advisors noted explicitly in august 2019 new york times story which was published before the beginning of the impeachment inquiry. in this article, yermak said that he and mayor giuliani did not discuss a link between a presidential meeting and investigations. witness testimony confirms yermak statement. ambassador volker testified there was no linkage between a potential meeting and investigations. although ambassador sondland testified that he believed there was a quid pro quo, his testimony is not as clear as it has been portrayed. in his deposition, ambassador sondland testified he believed the meeting was conditioned on a public anticorruption statement, not on the investigations themselves. a distinction that during his