Trump impeachment: President tries to undermine claim that witness overheard call with bizarre tweet about phones

Diplomat says he could hear president talking about 'investigations' on the other end of the line because of his 'loud and distinctive' voice

Donald Trump has tried to undermine claims that a US diplomat overheard him on the other end of a phone call to an ambassador – tweeting a bizarre message while the diplomat was giving evidence at the impeachment hearings.

The president tweeted: "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!"

The tweet was sent while David Holmes, a State Department official, was reading his opening statement in the latest public hearings in the impeachment inquiry.

He was appearing alongside Fiona Hill, a British-born expert on Russia.

Mr Holmes described sitting in a restaurant in the Ukrainian capital while Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to Ukraine, made a phone call to Mr Trump on 26 July, the day after the president's controversial conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he appeared to pressure him to start investigations into Democrats in return for releasing US military aid and arranging a visit to the White House.

A whistleblower complaint about the first phone call led to an impeachment inquiry against Mr Trump which could see him removed from office.

Mr Holmes says he could hear the president on the other end of the line because his voice was "loud and distinctive" and because Mr Sondland was holding the phone away from his ear.

During the conversation, Mr Holmes says, the president asked about the "investigations" and whether the Ukrainians were going to announce them.

Mr Sondland apparently said yes, saying Mr Zelenksy would do anything for Mr Trump, adding: "He loves your ass."

While the description of the phone call came out following Mr Holmes' original testimony to Congress earlier this month – and which he covered in his opening statement on Thursday morning – it is the first time Mr Trump has addressed the claim.

Talking about how he was able to hear Mr Trump on the other end of Mr Sondland's call, Mr Holmes said: "When the president came on he sort of winced and held the phone away from his ear like this. And he did that for the first couple of exchanges.

"I don't know if he then turned the volume down, if he got used to it, if the president moderated his volume, I don't know. But that's how I was able to hear it."

His tweet was one of several denouncing the impeachment hearings, and particularly the bombshell evidence from Wednesday in which Mr Sondland directly tied Mr Trump – as well as the vice-president, the secretary of state and the president's chief of staff – to efforts to withhold aid in return for favours that could give him an edge in the 2020 election.

One tweet read: "The Republican Party, and me, had a GREAT day yesterday with respect to the phony Impeachment Hoax, & yet, when I got home to the White House & checked out the news coverage on much of television, you would have no idea they were reporting on the same event. FAKE & CORRUPT NEWS!"