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| Impeachment hearings: Sondland says quid pro quo was pushed by Giuliani and ordered by Trump - live | Impeachment hearings: Sondland says quid pro quo was pushed by Giuliani and ordered by Trump - live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The US ambassador to the EU has delivered bombshell testimony that deals serious blows to Trump’s defense of his role on Ukraine | The US ambassador to the EU has delivered bombshell testimony that deals serious blows to Trump’s defense of his role on Ukraine |
| Goldman: You’re now aware what the president wanted, the Biden investigation and a 2016 election investigation, is that right? | |
| Sondland: That’s correct. | |
| Goldman is walking Sondland through text messages and emails he has submitted demonstrating that secretary of state Mike Pompeo was looped in on the effort to engineer the quid pro quo. | |
| A fish may rot from the head, but in this case, the Democrats are saying, the whole fish was rotten. | |
| The notes Trump spoke from earlier outside the White House were visible to reporters. In Trump’s handwriting someone has written, | |
| I want nothing. | |
| I want nothing. | |
| I want no quid pro quo. | |
| That’s what he wrote? | |
| The testimony is aligning. The official stance of the diplomats is, we thought that the drug deal we were negotiating was a dog deal, and when we learned it was about drugs we were shocked, appalled and we never would have agreed to that. | |
| Schiff is nailing Sondland down on both Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pompeo knowing about the quid pro quo. | |
| Schiff reminds the room that Mulvaney held a press conference saying aid was tied to investigations. Mulvaney later tried to walk that back. | |
| Sondland saw a recording of the press conference. “He said yes it was” - the military aid was tied to investigations. | |
| Schiff begins by pressing Sondland on his inability, for so long, to link Burisma and Biden. Giuliani was saying it on TV! Schiff says. | |
| Sondland says he did not listen to what Giuliani was saying on TV because he was talking directly with Giuliani. | |
| Schiff announces an extra 30-minute question period for the chairman, ranking member and lawyers. | |
| Nunes won’t like that. And will Castor be able to fill it? | |
| Castor finishes with an attack on Sondland, saying he didn’t take notes and testified that he did not recall a lot of things. Castor calls it a “trifecta” of unreliability. | |
| Sondland says he has not had access to documents but he did have some texts which he read and his testimony was strengthened by others. | |
| Sondland has just bristled at the notion that he was in some kind of “irregular channel” of US-Ukraine policy. | |
| If the president himself was in the channel, Sondland asks, how is that the irregular one? | |
| Concerns about the quid pro quo “were never raised,” Sondland says. “Everyone’s hair was on fire but no one decided to talk to us.” | |
| Castor is repeating Nunes’ questions about Trump’s feelings about corruption in Ukraine. | |
| 45 minutes can seem awfully long: | |
| Good point about the timing of the whistleblower complaint and the internal discussion of the quid pro quo going underground: | Good point about the timing of the whistleblower complaint and the internal discussion of the quid pro quo going underground: |
| Sondland doesn’t remember when he figured out “Burisma” meant “Biden.” | Sondland doesn’t remember when he figured out “Burisma” meant “Biden.” |
| “I can’t recall the exact date the light bulb went on. It could have been as late as when the transcript was out. It was always Burisma to me.” | “I can’t recall the exact date the light bulb went on. It could have been as late as when the transcript was out. It was always Burisma to me.” |
| The record of the 25 July call, in which Trump requests the investigation of Joe Biden, came out two months after the fact. | The record of the 25 July call, in which Trump requests the investigation of Joe Biden, came out two months after the fact. |
| Sondland says “I was shocked” to learn that John Bolton/Fiona Hill thought he was engaged in a “drug deal” on Ukraine. | Sondland says “I was shocked” to learn that John Bolton/Fiona Hill thought he was engaged in a “drug deal” on Ukraine. |
| Shocked because from Sondland’s perspective, everybody knew what was up. | Shocked because from Sondland’s perspective, everybody knew what was up. |
| Weird scene, and hard to hear. When’s the last time we saw Trump speaking from notes? | Weird scene, and hard to hear. When’s the last time we saw Trump speaking from notes? |
| Giuliani declares case closed. (He incorrectly refers to the 25 July call as happening a day earlier, and he totally mischaracterizes the contents of the call, in which Trump says US help for Ukraine has not been reciprocal and asks Zelenskiy for a “favor”.) | Giuliani declares case closed. (He incorrectly refers to the 25 July call as happening a day earlier, and he totally mischaracterizes the contents of the call, in which Trump says US help for Ukraine has not been reciprocal and asks Zelenskiy for a “favor”.) |
| When Trump wishes to distance himself from an associate implicated in a crime – or, in this case, implicating him in misconduct – Trump says he does not know or hardly knows that person, from Michael Cohen to Paul Manafort to Gordon Sondland. | When Trump wishes to distance himself from an associate implicated in a crime – or, in this case, implicating him in misconduct – Trump says he does not know or hardly knows that person, from Michael Cohen to Paul Manafort to Gordon Sondland. |
| Outside the White House just then, Trump does not know Sondland very well: | Outside the White House just then, Trump does not know Sondland very well: |
| Castor on when Trump told Sondland there was “no quid pro quo”: | Castor on when Trump told Sondland there was “no quid pro quo”: |
| Q: You believed the president, correct? | Q: You believed the president, correct? |
| A: You know what I’m not going to characterize whether I believed or didn’t believe. | A: You know what I’m not going to characterize whether I believed or didn’t believe. |
| Sondland reiterates that his ability to testify fully has been harmed by his (and the committee’s) lack of access to state department documents: | Sondland reiterates that his ability to testify fully has been harmed by his (and the committee’s) lack of access to state department documents: |
| Castor, the Republican lawyer, asks Sondland if Trump ever told him personally that aid or a meeting were conditioned on an announcement of investigations. | Castor, the Republican lawyer, asks Sondland if Trump ever told him personally that aid or a meeting were conditioned on an announcement of investigations. |
| Sondland: “Personally, no.” | Sondland: “Personally, no.” |
| Castor: So how did you know Giuliani spoke for Trump? | Castor: So how did you know Giuliani spoke for Trump? |
| Sondland: “Well when the president says talk to my personal attorney and then Mr Giuliani says ‘as the president’s attorney,’ we assume it’s coming from the president. | Sondland: “Well when the president says talk to my personal attorney and then Mr Giuliani says ‘as the president’s attorney,’ we assume it’s coming from the president. |
| Then Castor splits hairs between Trump saying “Go talk to Rudy” and “Talk to Rudy”. It wasn’t an order, correct? Castor says. | Then Castor splits hairs between Trump saying “Go talk to Rudy” and “Talk to Rudy”. It wasn’t an order, correct? Castor says. |
| We understood we had to talk to Rudy to get anything done on Ukraine, Sondland said. | We understood we had to talk to Rudy to get anything done on Ukraine, Sondland said. |