READ: Closed-door testimony of State Department official David Holmes

House Democrats on Monday released a transcript of the closed-door deposition of the State Department staffer who told investigators about a phone call he overheard between President Trump and a top U.S. diplomat who told the president Ukraine planned to open an “investigation.”

David Holmes, a career State Department official now based in Kyiv, was privately interviewed by the committees conducting the impeachment inquiry into Trump on Friday. Democrats quickly scheduled the deposition after William Taylor, the U.S. chargé d’affaires for Ukraine, said during his public testimony Wednesday that Holmes had told him about the phone call between Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.

According to Holmes, Trump asked Sondland during a July 26 phone conversation for an update on “the investigation.” 

And Sondland responded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would give Trump what he wanted.

“So, he’s gonna do the investigation?” Trump asked, according to Holmes’s opening statement.

“He’s gonna do it,” Sondland replied, adding that the foreign leader will do “anything you ask him to.” 

Officials announced Monday that Holmes would testify publicly on Thursday, making him the ninth witness to appear for an open hearing this week.

Read his full testimony below: 

Holmes Final Version Redacted by Regina Zilbermints on Scribd