Democratic debates: Democrats prepare for fifth debate after key impeachment witness says Trump directed Ukraine 'quid pro quo' in bombshell testimony
Follow the latest updates, as they happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
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.
Please allow a moment for our live blog to load
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.
Donald Trump is attacking Nancy Pelosi while claiming Mexico and Canada were "ready to flee" a trilateral trade deal known as the USMCA.
Spectators queue to witness Gordon Sondland testimony
My colleague Andrew Feinberg has just arrived at today's hearing in DC and sends this picture of the snaking queue of punters outside of the Longworth Office Building lining up for a chance to see Gordon Sondland's testimony.
(Andrew Feinberg)
It appears Gordon Sondland has arrived on Capitol Hill for his public testimony in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. We'll bring more photos and videos as they come in.
Adam Schiff: 'Are we prepared to accept that a president can leverage official acts to get an investigation of a political rival?'
As we prepare for another busy day of impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill - it's Sondland up this morning, deputy assistant defence secretary Laura Cooper and State Department under secretary of state for political affairs David Hale this afternoon - it's worth revisiting Chairman Schiff's superb closing remarks from Tuesday for a reminder of the gravity of what's at stake here.
Schiff's opening statement summarizes Sondland's role in the Ukraine scandal assembled from other witness statements and provides a timeline.
When the infamous 25 July phone call was made public, Americans "learned the truth" about the president taking advantage of a vulnerable ally, Schiff said.
Schiff says recent docs prove that Secretary Pompeo and the president have "made a concerted effort" to "obstruct" the impeachment inquiry.
"They do so at their own peril."
Nunes now providing a counter-statement, claiming Democrats have "exploited" the House intelligence committee for political reasons.
Nunes claims that Democrats have called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “a liar.” (That didn't happen.)
Nunes compares Trump's "own channel" to communicate with Ukraine to George Washington. Democrats "would probably want to impeach him too," he said.
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg talked to New Jersey Congressman Tom Malinowski before the hearing:
"I think [today] is an opportunity for Ambassador Sondland to clarify some things that he perhaps conveniently forgot when he first came for his deposition.”
“I don’t think [Sondland] has any reason not to be truthful. All the evidence I’ve seen suggests he was carrying out the wishes of the president and fully transparent with the White House and State Department about everything that he was doing. I think he, as all of the characters in this drama, was put in an impossible position by the presidents desire for these investigations.”
“I believe Sondland when he says his intentions were simply to try to preserve an important relationship between the US and Ukraine, and the president made it clear through his words and actions that the only way to preserve that relationship was to do the ‘drug deal,’ and so Sondland made the choice that he had to play along and give the president what he wanted if there was any hope for preserving US support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.”
“We’ve heard from two kinds of witnesses -- one group who felt the ‘drug deal’ was wrong and therefore wanted nothing to do with it, and another group, of which Sondland is a part, that devised to go along with it to keep the president on board and preserve the relationship with Ukraine. The problem was not with any of these people...we’re not investigating Gordon Sondland, we’re investigating the president of the United States.”
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg also talked to Dean Phillips: “I anticipate we might hear something new based on previous examples from Mr Sondland — he’s the intersection of a lot of what we’re hearing so far. I expect ... we’ll cover a lot of new ground as his memory is restored.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments