Democratic debates: Democrats prepare for fifth debate after key impeachment witness says Trump directed Ukraine 'quid pro quo' in bombshell testimony
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Your support makes all the difference.Gordon Sondland has implicated a number of White House officials who were “in the loop” with Donald Trump's direction to withhold aid to Ukraine in an exchange for a meeting and a public statement announcing an investigation into the president’s political opponents.
The testimony came as Democrats were preparing to hold their fifth debate of 2020 in Atlanta, where they will undoubtedly be asked about the freshly sprung impeachment inquiry that has dominated headlines.
Mr Sondland, a US ambassador to the EU, affirmed that there was a so-called quid pro quo, dropping a bombshell testimony into another pivotal hearing in the House impeachment inquiry into the president’s alleged abuses of power in his dealings with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to his testimony, Mr Sondland worked under the president’s order to work with Rudy Giuliani “not because we liked it but because it was the only constructive path” to building a relationship with a vulnerable Ukraine. In emails and other conversations with US officials — including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Energy Secretary Rick Perry — Mr Sondland established a clear link from the president, through Giuliani, and efforts to engage Ukraine with investigations into the 2016 election and Burisma.
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Mr Trump told reporters outside the White House that he barely knows Mr Sondland, who he previously called a "great American", and that he seems like a “nice guy".
The president read from a stack of papers in his hand, which included, in capital letters, his recollection of a conversation with Mr Sondland in which Trump said "I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NO QUID PRO QUO."
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that "the US aid to Ukraine flowed, no investigation was launched, and President Trump has met and spoken with President Zelensky. Democrats keep chasing ghosts."
Mr Pence and Mr Perry also released statements during the hearing denying Mr Giuliani’s influence in their dealings with Ukraine. They’ve refused to testify in the impeachment probe.
Mr Trump also lashed out at his Democratic opponents conducting the House impeachment inquiry, mocked key witnesses giving testimony for their sartorial choices and denied that the onset of a heart attack was what prompted his sudden trip to hospital on Saturday.
"These people are sick. They’re sick. And the press really in this country is dangerous. We don’t have freedom of the press in this country. We have the opposite. We have a very corrupt media," the president ranted from the Cabinet Room of the White House on Tuesday.
The inquiry heard from four witnesses on Tuesday who detailed the administration’s coercion of Ukraine.
Congressman Mike Turner trying to undermine evidence by getting Sondland himself to explicitly state whether the president was withholding aid.
Turner: "You really have no testimony tying Trump to a scheme to withhold aid?"
Sondland said he has nothing but his "presumption."
Turner snaps: "Which is nothing!"
Back to Schiff:
"My colleagues seem to be under the impression that unless the president spoke the words, 'Ambassador Sondland, I am bribing the Ukrainian president,' that there is no evidence of bribery."
Sondland says people have threatened Sondland's wife via email and boycotted his properties.
Congressman Mike Conaway points to Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who called for a boycott of Sondland’s hotels.
Jackie Speier, after being told that Schiff got "three Pinocchios" from the Washington Post fact-check column: "The president has five Pinocchios on a daily basis, so let's not go there."
Bit of applause from the room there.
A statement from the DOE says Sondland's testimony "misrepresented" Secretary Rick Perry's "interaction with Rudy Giuliani and direction the Secretary received from President Trump."
"As previously stated, Secretary Perry spoke with Rudy Giuliani only once at the president's request. No one else was on that call. At no point before, during or after that phone call did the words 'Biden' or 'Burisma' ever came up in the presence of Secretary Perry."
Perry has refused to testify.
Congressman Chris Stewart says Trump's handling of Ukraine is a "common occurence" in international relations and "hardly an impeachable offense."
Democrat Congressman Mike Quigley compares the GOP's pursuit of the whistleblower to wanting to indict the person who pulls the fire alarm during an arson.
Castro plays video from 17 October press conference with Mick Mulvaney, in which he says "get over it."
"There's going to be political influence in foreign policy."
Castro asks Sondland if he agrees.
Sondland says he believes a president "should not investigate a political rival in exchange for a quid pro quo."
Democratic Congressman Denny Heck calls Sondland an "American success story" and that, on some level, he's "grateful" and has instilled inside him a "sense of patriotism."
Why then, Heck asks, are Mulvaney, Pompeo and other officials including the president, not held to the same standard to "do what you have done" and appear before Congress?
Sondland: "I wish I could answer."
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