President Trump’s handpicked Ukraine adviser Gordon Sondland is claiming before the House Intelligence Committee that Trump would only meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, on the condition Zelensky agree to investigate Trump’s political opponents.
Sondland was a major donor to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Still, his credibility has been called into question by top ex-White House advisers like Tim Morrison and is likely to come under greater scrutiny.
Per Politico:
“Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’” said Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, a close Trump ally and GOP donor, in his opening remarks Wednesday to impeachment investigators. “The answer is yes.”
Sondland framed the matter as widely understood across the Trump administration, indicating that senior officials and even cabinet secretaries were aware of the arrangement — and that it was carried out at the “express direction” of the president.
…
Sondland, whose testimony to lawmakers is shaping up to be the most consequential as Democrats build a case that Trump used the power of his office to pressure Zelensky to investigation his political rivals — and possibly condition nearly $400 million of military aid and a White House meeting to bend the newly elected Ukrainian president to his will.
Sondland told members of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday that he “later came to believe” that the security assistance — which had been frozen at Trump’s direction over the summer — would not be delivered to Ukraine unless the country publicly committed to pursuing Trump’s desired investigations.
The problem here is two-fold. Sondland, like many people with an overinflated sense of self-worth in politics, hasn’t proven anything – including the Democrats charges of bribery. Secondly, he can’t seem to keep his “facts” straight.
Before sending that text, Ambassador Sondland had a phone call with the President.
Sondland asked President Trump “what do you want from Ukraine?”
The President said, “I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I want Zelensky to do the right thing… to do what he ran on.” https://t.co/OHPUcli9Zz pic.twitter.com/HvkpxIgYwy
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) November 5, 2019
Good luck changing your testimony now!
AAN Staff
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