Gordon Sondland is the most significant witness to date in the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Sondland’s opening statement: Dropping BOMBS.
ADMITS there was bribery aka “quid pro quo”
Sondland worked with Giuliani to pressure Ukraine “at the express direction of the president.”
Mick Mulvaney, Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence were DIRECTLY involved
Mike Pompeo’s State Department and White House DENIED Sondland’s lawyers access documents for his testimony #CoverUp #UkraineCoverUp
Sondland’s live testimony, “we followed the president’s orders.” Forty🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Below are some key takeaways from his opening statement. We’ll add more throughout the hearing.
1. Connecting this to the president
In his opening statement, though, Sondland walked right up to the line, if he didn’t cross it.
“Fourth, as I testified previously, [Trump attorney Rudolph W.] Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky,” he said. “Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president.”
Sondland also repeatedly said “everyone knew it” when asked about the quid pro quo -- as if to emphasize that Trump also knew it.
It’s tempting to say Sondland is implicating Trump. That’s not completely the case; he seems to still be walking a fine line. But he seems to be saying this was all something that Trump blessed, which is significant.
2. ‘Talk to Rudy’ was an order
In many ways, Sondland’s testimony is worse for Trump than Tuesday’s hearing featuring former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and former White House aide Tim Morrison. And in one key respect, it contradicts them.
“In response to our persistent efforts to change his views, President Trump directed us to ‘talk with Rudy,’ ” Sondland said. “We understood that ‘talk with Rudy’ meant talk with Mr. Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer.”
“Directed us” is an order. It’s an instruction. And it again connects this whole effort to Trump — in a way Volker declined to.
3. Pointing fingers and naming names — including Mulvaney, Pompeo and Pence
Sondland said repeatedly in his opening statement that the State Department and the White House didn’t allow him access to the things he needed to provide accurate previous testimony. Hence the inconsistencies and the clarifications, apparently.
“My lawyers and I have made multiple requests to the State Department and the White House for these materials,” he said. “Yet, these materials were not provided to me. They have also refused to share these materials with this committee. These documents are not classified and, in fairness, should have been made available. In the absence of these materials, my memory has not been perfect.
He also named Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying Pompeo had instructed him to work with Giuliani as late as Sept. 24 — which is notably after the whistleblower situation exploded into public view.
He noted acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s involvement, passing along this text exchange from July 19, six days before Trump’s call with Zelensky:
[Sondland said:] “I Talked to Zelensky just now… He is prepared to receive Potus’ call. Will assure him that he intends to run a fully transparent investigation and will ‘turn over every stone’. He would greatly appreciate a call prior to Sunday so that he can put out some media about a ‘friendly and productive call’ (no details) prior to Ukraine election on Sunday.” Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney responded: “I asked NSC to set it up for tomorrow.”
That implicates Mulvaney in these efforts even more. Witnesses had previously said Sondland indicated to Ukrainian officials that he had coordinated the quid pro quo with Mulvaney, who is Trump’s top White House aide.
Lastly, he indicates that he conveyed “concerns” about a quid pro quo to Vice President Pence prior to Sept. 1 meetings in Warsaw.
“I mentioned to Vice President Pence before the meetings with the Ukrainians that I had concerns that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations,” Sondland said. He added later in his testimony that Pence “nodded that he heard what I said.”
Republicans, there’s no hiding from this. Gordon Sondland is a Pro-Trump Republican