inclusively anything that was holding up moving forward on the meeting and the Ukraine-U.S. relationship. GOLDMAN: And what was holding that up? SONDLAND: At that point, it was the statements about Burisma and the 2016 elections. GOLDMAN: But what was being held up? SONDLAND: Well, the aid was being held up, obviously

On Aug. 28, the news broke publicly that security assistance was being withheld from Ukraine, and Taylor received a call from Yermak, inquiring as to the reason. Taylor had no answer for him. Again, both in the opening statement and in response to committee questions during his deposition, Taylor stressed that he had not yet understood that the hold on security assistance was related to the alternative channel’s push for Zelensky to conduct investigations.

Taylor testified that onSept. 1, Vice President Mike Pence met with Zelensky in Warsaw. Sondland, who was on the trip, later testified that he had told Pence in a preparatory meeting that it was important to secure the investigations from Ukraine in order to ensure the release of the military aid, to which Pence nodded. That said, Pence did not raise the investigations with the Ukrainians, even after Zelensky raised the assistance. Later, Morrison, who was also on the trip, told Taylor that Sondland spoke with Yermak and told him that Ukraine would not receive security assistance money until Zelensky committed to pursuing the two investigations. Sondland later confirmed that he had told Yermak that the security assistance might also be contingent on the investigations. Taylor stated that this readout from