Trump described the investigation as chasing witches

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for an end to congressional hearings as part of an investigation to isolate him, cynically calling them "witch hunt and offending the country."

This coincided with the acknowledgment by US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sundland during his testimony in the House of Representatives that Trump ordered him to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani on the issue of Ukraine, and that the latter wanted to urge Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinski to investigate Trump's political rivals.

Trump said on Twitter as he flew to Texas on the presidential plane that Sundeland, on the contrary, had acquitted him, and demanded an immediate end to the investigation to isolate him. "The campaign of chasing the isolation is over now," he said.

Speaking to reporters earlier at the White House, Trump repeated sections of Sundeland's testimony to confirm his opinion. "What do you want from Ukraine?" Sundown said. "My answer was this: I don't want anything, tell Zielinski to do the right thing." "I think it means it's over," he said. Trump also sought to distance himself from Sundeland and said, "I don't know him well."

A State Department spokeswoman said Ambassador Sundland had never told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that President Trump had linked aid to Ukraine to her investigation with Joe Biden's son.

Sundeland certification
"I asked the State Department and the White House to provide documents to help me testify, but they rejected my request," Sundeland said at the House of Representatives hearing.

He said Trump had ordered him to work with Giuliani on Ukraine-related issues, and Pompeo was aware of that and was "fully supportive" of Giuliani's efforts to urge the Ukrainian president to investigate Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his son, which Sundeland described as a "barter for a visit." To Zelinsky to the White House. "

"If I had known Giuliani's relations that were now being held accountable, I would not have relied on him to work with us," he said, adding that aid should have been delivered to Ukraine without any pressure.

Sundeland was a businessman who financed the 2016 Trump campaign, and the latter appointed him after he won the presidency as ambassador to the European Union.

During his first briefing in a closed-door session a month ago, Sundeland said under oath that he was "not involved" in actions to "freeze aid to put pressure on Kiev," arguing that such a move would have seemed "unfavorable" if its goal was "to influence US elections." .

During that session, he repeated the words "I do not remember" in response to questions from deputies, but later wrote a written note stating: "I remember now that I had one-on-one conversations with Andrei Yermak (adviser close to the Ukrainian president) to tell him that US assistance would probably not arrive until it was given." Ukraine is a declaration against corruption that we have been talking about for weeks. "

On Tuesday, the House Intelligence Committee heard Jennifer Williams, the vice president's adviser on European and Russian affairs, who said Trump's July 25 call with his Ukrainian counterpart was unusual and involved domestic political matters.

Army Colonel Alexander Findman said during his testimony that he listened to the call, and that he informed White House lawyer John Eisenberg of his concern over Trump's request to Ukraine to investigate Democratic candidate Joe Biden, saying that "inappropriate" behavior would undermine US national security and support strategic goals. To Russia in Eastern Europe.