Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “loves your ass” and “will do anything you ask of him,” an EU ambassador told the president, according to a witness.
The alleged crass remark from European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland came to light in a closed-door deposition in front of House lawmakers by David Holmes, a consular official at the US embassy in Ukraine.
“So, he’s going to do the investigation?” Trump apparently replied, to which Sondland answered, “He’s going to do it … President Zelensky will do anything you ask of him,” Holmes said of the exchange.
Holmes’ Friday statement, uploaded in full by CNN, was part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president’s dealings with Ukraine.
The president is accused of attempting to use hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid as leverage in an attempt to get the country to investigate Hunter Biden’s involvement with the energy company Burisma Holdings. Biden’s father, former vice-president Joe Biden, is currently a leading candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.