Here’s the tale: David Holmes, a State Department aide to Ambassador William Taylor, claims he overheard a conversation between President Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland — on a cell phone — while at a restaurant in Kiev, Ukraine.
In the impeachment hearing on Thursday, Democrat counsel Daniel Goldman asked Holmes “how were you able to hear if it was not on speakerphone?”
“Several things. It was quite loud when the president came on, quite distinctive. I believe Ambassador Sondland also said yesterday he often speaks loudly over the phone. I certainly experienced that,” Holmes said.
“When the president came on, he sort of winced and held the phone away from his ear like this, Holmes said mimicking Sondland wincing and holding the phone away from his ear. “And he did that for the first couple of exchanges.” Take a look here.
Trump mocked the tale, saying he’s tried the feat and failed.
“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, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!” he wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
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, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2019
In his Thursday testimony, Holmes said he remembered the call.
“This was an extremely distinctive experience in my foreign service career,” Holmes said. “I’ve never seen anything like this, someone calling the President from a mobile phone at a restaurant, and then having a conversation of this level of candor, colorful language. There’s just so much about the call that was so remarkable that I remember it vividly.”
