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.
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg, who's in the room, says "Republicans on the committee appear shell-shocked by Sondland’s testimony."
Texas congressman Mike Conway "has spent much of the time since he began speaking with his head firmly in his hand."
Goldman asks Sondland whether he understands the "political benefits to a public announcement" of investigations as opposed to promises made in a private conversation.
Sondland says Ukraine had a history of private commitments that they never followed through, which he speculates why Trump wanted it to be public, but Sondland "didn’t care either way" whether Ukraine actually did the investigations.
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg says Sondland's admission that Trump didn't care about the investigation, just the announcement, is "a further nail in the coffin containing the GOP talking point about how the reason the military aid to Ukraine was withheld was 'corruption.'"
Goldman is trying to nail Sondland on his insistence that Trump never talked to him about security assistance being conditional on the announcement of an investigation.
Sondland says despite the timeline having him speaking with Trump before it was made "abundantly clear to everyone that there was a link," what he believes happened was "we were discussing the chicken and egg issue" of the Ukrainians making a statement and still not getting a White House meeting and aid. "That would be really bad for our credibility," he says.
Nunes and Republicans have asked for a break.
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg, who's in the room, says "it appears they were simply not even remotely ready for Sondland’s testimony this morning."
Schiff speaking to reporters: "The knowledge of this scheme was pervasive."
Sondland's testimony implicates Mulvaney, Pompeo and Pence as well as Giuliani and Trump, underscoring "just how significant the presence of obstruction has been" in the investigation.
What does former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci think?
In a text to The Independent's Andrew Feinberg: "Trump should resign."
Congressman Mike Quigley to The Independent's Andrew Feinberg, who's watching the hearing from inside, asked if he thought Republicans seemed surprised:
“I don’t know that anybody had any idea this was coming, but I don’t believe they [Republicans] are going to publicly show any concern for this. Facts are really stubborn things but they don’t seem to bother my friends over there.”
Nunes said the break was not a "bathroom break" but a chance for Democrats to hold a press conference to discuss supposed "bombshells."
Nunes starts his questions discussing GOP conspiracies involving the DNC and Ukraine's alleged efforts to "dirty up" Trump in 2016.
Nunes and Jordan sent a statement to Schiff this morning requesting the committee subpoena Hunter Biden, the DNC and the whistle-blower.
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