any response from either of them tonight? reporter: we have denials from both of them. the vice president said today that he has no recollection of ambassador sondland ever talking to him about any of this. and the spokesperson for secretary of state pompeo said that any suggestion that military aid was tied to political investigation, quote, is flat-out false. that any suggestion that sondland told him about that is flat-out false. jon karl and mary, thanks to you both, and our entire team today. and we hope you ll stay with abc news. live coverage of the impeachment hearings continues tomorrow morning. that begins at 9:00 a.m. eastern once again. in the meantime, we move on tonight to the other major news this wednesday. new fallout at this hour for prince andrew in britain, after his very controversial interview about his friendship with jeffrey epstein. the prince announcing he is now stepping away from his royal duties for the foreseeable future. here s abc s eva pilgrim t
announce the investigations. he had to announce the investigations. he didn t actually have to do them, as i understood it. reporter: sondland was in frequent contact with the president. he confirmed the testimony of another diplomat, david holmes, who says he overheard a phone call between sondland and trump in a restaurant in kiev. you confirmed to president trump that you were in ukraine at the time and that president zelensky, quote, loves your ass , unquote. do you recall saying that? sounds like something i would say. that s how president trump and i communicate. a lot of four-letter words. in this case, three letters. holmes then said that he heard president trump ask, quote, is he, meaning zelensky, going to do the investigation? to which you replied, he s going to do it. do you recall that? i probably said something to that effect, putting it in trump-speak, by saying, he loves your ass, he ll do whatever you
inauguration, trump today insisted that he does not know sondland well and that he hasn t spoken to him much, and trump even noted that sondland previously supported another candidate. now, sondland was asked about the president trying to distance himself. his response, david? easy come, easy go. all right, mary bruce leading us off. mary, as you know, there was also something else the president zeroed in on. ambassador sondland s testimony today about a phone call he had with president trump in september. sondland asking the president, what do you want from ukraine? the president s answer? i want nothing. i want no quid pro quo. i want zelensky to do the right thing, he said. the president coming before the cameras to say today that that phone call clears him, that, quote, it s all over. but tonight, democrats point out the day he said, i want no quid pro quo, the president very likely already knew of the whistle-blower s complaint and that the congressional investigations
want. reporter: but republicans pointed to a different phone call, one sondland described in a text message to the top american diplomat in ukraine. you testified that in your september 9th call with president trump, the president said, quote, no quid pro quo. i want nothing. i want nothing. i want president zelensky to do the right thing. do what he ran on, end quote. is that correct? that s correct. reporter: but that call came after the white house learned of the whistle-blower s complaint and just as congress was launch ing its investigation. very busy day. let s get right to mary bruce, live on the hill tonight. mary with us all day long. and mary, many were wondering, as this was playing out today, would the president react in real-time as he did during last week s hearings, to what he was hearing from ambassador sondland today. sondland actually saying that he spoke with president trump about 20 times or so on the phone. he was able to call the president up, so, what
it became your clear understanding that the military assistance was also being withheld pending zelensky announcing these investigations. correct? that was my presumption. my personal presumption based on the facts at the time. nothing was moving. reporter: but sondland acknowledges the president never told him directly. i don t recall president trump ever talking to me about any security assistance, ever. is this kind of a two plus two equals four conclusion that you reached? pretty much. it s the only logical conclusion to you that given all of these factors, that the aid was also apart of this quid pro quo? yep. reporter: republicans pounced. so, no one told you. not just the president, giuliani didn t tell you, mulvaney didn t tell you, nobody, pompeo didn t tell you. nobody else on this planet told you that donald trump was tying aid to these investigations, is that correct? i think i already testified