Trump's dismissal: "Of course I heard the recognizable voice of the president"

• Tweeter

• republish

David Holmes, diplomat stationed in Kiev, at the time he mimed Ambassador Gordon Sondland receiving a call from President Donald Trump. David Holmes and Fiona Hill testified in the House of Representatives on November 20, 2019. REUTERS / Erin Scott

Public hearings in the impeachment proceedings against US President Donald Trump are continuing in Congress. Today, two diplomats testify: David Holmes and Fiona Hill. One is a diplomat at the US embassy in Kiev, the other former member of the Maiso Blanche's National Security Council.

With our correspondent in Washington , Anne Corpet

Donald Trump has tried to undermine the testimony of David Holmes who claims to have heard the voice of the president through the cell phone of a key witness, Gordon Sondland. " I've never been able to hear a conversation that is not broadcast on speakerphone, try to do it! The president writes.

I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, who was not a speaker, and was able to hear or understand a conversation. I have tried, but to no avail. Try it live!

But at the hearing, David Holmes was convincing: he mimicked Gordon Sondland by spreading the receiver in his ear so much that Donald Trump was talking hard at the other end of the line. " Of course I heard the recognizable voice of the president who asked for news of the investigation, " said the diplomat.

More generally, the two witnesses heard this morning recounted the diplomats' concerns over Rudolf Giuliani's activities in Ukraine, which they said " undermined the objectives of US policy ".

Fiona Hill denounces a Russian " fiction " used by Trump

Fiona Hill has strongly denounced the stubbornness of the president's personal attorney to seek an investigation into alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 ballot. " This fiction is damaging, even if it only served political interests ," he said. she said before adding to the address of elected Republicans: " I refuse to participate in an effort that legitimizes an alternative narrative, according to which Ukraine and not Russia attacked us in 2016 ". The diplomat finally quoted John Bolton: " Giuliani is a shotgun that will explode in everyone's face, " said the former national security advisor. And Fiona Hills commented, " I think that's exactly what's happening ."

Dr. Hill: "Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia ... did not conduct a campaign against our country-and that ... for some reason, Ukraine did this fictional narrative that has been perpetrated propagated by the Russian security services themselves. " pic.twitter.com/ezVvJYMf3k