President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that he wanted “nothing” from Ukraine and declared that impeachment hearings should be brought to an end.
The president read from handwritten notes when speaking to reporters on the White House lawn nearly an hour later than his scheduled departure for Texas.
Trump addressed the ongoing testimony from Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, who linked the president to a decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into a political rival.
But he only highlighted specific, helpful parts from Sondland’s remarks, saying “it is the final word” that he did not demand a quid pro quo.
Trump, who claimed that means “it’s all over” for the impeachment proceedings, did not take questions from reporters.
Trump also sought to distance himself from Sondland, a witness seen as key because he had direct communication with the president.
"I don’t know him very well. I have not spoken to him much," Trump told reporters. "This is not a man I know well. He seems like a nice guy, though."
As recently as Oct. 8, Trump had tweeted that Sondland was a “really good man and great American.”
But on Nov. 8, Trump said that he “hardly” knew Sondland. That came after the ambassador revised testimony to acknowledge he had told an aide to Ukraine’s president in September that military aid would not likely occur until Ukraine made public announcements about corruption investigations.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.