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.
Former RNC chair Michale Steele on Nunes' reaction to Sondland's opening statement and first round of questions:
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg reports "Republicans appear to have retreated to their anteroom to regroup and figure out a new strategy in light of Sondland’s bombshell testimony. The GOP side of the dais is nearly empty."
Goldman's line of questions:
What did you mean by "logjam"?
Sondland: "Inclusively anything moving forward on a meeting and Ukraine-US relationship."
What was holding that up?
"At that point it was statements on Burisma and the 2016 election."
What was being held up?
"Aid, obviously."
Asked whether Sondland remembers saying: “President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check."
Sondland says: "I don’t recall specifically but I may have."
Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham:
“Ambassador Sondland’s testimony made clear that in one of the few brief phone calls he had with President Trump, the President clearly stated that he ‘wanted nothing’ from Ukraine and repeated ‘no quid pro quo over and over again.’ In fact, no quid pro quo ever occurred. The U.S. aid to Ukraine flowed, no investigation was launched, and President Trump has met and spoken with President Zelensky. Democrats keep chasing ghosts.”
From Sondland's testimony, on whether there was a quid pro quo: "As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
Some analysis from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg, who's reporting from the hearing:
"The round of questions that just ended for Democrats is the only one that Schiff has conducted entirely on his own. It’s a good sign that Dems are growing more confident, and a preview of what we will probably see in a Senate impeachment trial. Schiff will undoubtedly be one of the House 'managers' who present the case for impeachment."
Nunes: "Wouldn't it be easier to know why exactly the aid wasn't given" instead of "doing funny math problems up here"?
Sondland says it would be (if he was given documents that the administration refused to provide).
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg says Nunes was "once again trying to claim that Trump was justified in withholding aid because of (baseless) allegations that Ukrainian officials 'interfered' in the 2016 election by, among other things, writing an op-ed that was critical of him. But all that argument does is make it appear that Trump retaliated against a foreign government out of pique."
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