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.
Nunes, who says that Trump had every reason to be skeptical of Ukraine: "Who were these Democratic operatives? ... They just cant get over that the president would send over his personal attorney to get to the bottom of this."
Nunes asks if Sondland was aware of any "drug deals" that Bolton had alleged.
Sondland says no and that he's a "proud member" of the Three Amigos.
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg, who's reporting from inside the hearing: "Republicans appear completely unprepared to address anything Sondland has said so far. So far Nunes has asked about a series of conspiracy theories, but nothing substantive about his testimony."
A statement from Vice President Mike Pence's office following Sondland's testimony:
Pence claims he "has never had a convseration with with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations."
He claims Sondland "was never alone" with Pence on that 1 September trip to Warsaw, when Sondland says he mentioned the aid and investigations to Pence, who Sondland says had said "duly noted" or something to that effect.
Ken Starr, who led the impeachment team against former president Bill Clinton, told Fox News that articles of impeachment are likely being drawn up:
"Are senators going to now say in light of what we hear today, it’s going to be a long day even with the ambassador alone, in light of what we have heard, ‘We need to make a trip down to the White House’? That historic example set during the Nixon presidency. From what I’ve been able to glean I don’t think that’s going to happen. But obviously what happens today could—has the potential to be a game-changer.”
The president didn't take any questions after stepping out of the White House this morning.
He declared that Sondland had cleared him and said there was no quid pro quo. "This is the final word from the president of the United States. I want nothing."
On Sondland, who he previously called a "really good man and a great American," Trump says: "I don’t know him very well. I have not spoken to him much. This is not a man I know well. He seems like a nice guy though."
From The Independent's Andrew Feinberg, who's reporting from inside the hearing:
"Castor is asking about the photo taken at the White House with Ukrainian officials and White House officials. Yesterday Lt Col Vindman said it was taken for 'strategic communications value,' but Castor is trying to make it appear as if the photo is evidence that there was nothing going on that concerned anyone during that meeting, which John Bolton ended because he objected to the request for investigations."
Trump — reading from a stack of notes with Sondland's quotes from his testimony — was re-enacting his conversation with Sondland before leaving for Texas.
He also disputed what he said was Sondland’s characterization that the president was in a bad mood during their conversation.
“I’m always in a good mood. I don’t know what that is.”
Sondland: When you're talking to the president, the secretary of state, etc, "I don't know how they can consider us to be the irregular channel and they to be the regular channel when it's the leadership that makes the decisions."
Castor accuses Sondland of possessing the "trifecta of unreliability" because he doesn't take notes.
(Sondland's testimony relied on a bunch of text messages and emails with direct communication with officials.)
Goldman is asking Sondland to read from a 19 July email to White House adviser Robert Blair, Kenna, Mulvaney, Perry and Pompeo.
In the email, Sondland writes that Zelensky is prepared to receive a call from Trump and will perform a "fully transparent investigation" that will “turn over every stone."
(Most of the people on that email, as well as Perry's chief of staff, had refused to testify in the impeachment inquiry.)
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