This is the official version of events at Adam ShiTT's Stalinist show trial, aka "the impeachment inquiry"
The
US ambassador to the European Union told an impeachment hearing
Wednesday that he was following the orders of President Donald Trump
in seeking a “quid pro quo” from Ukraine.
Gordon
Sondland — a wealthy Republican megadonor appointed by Mr Trump
whose appearance before Congress is subsequently being watched
especially closely — said he believed the President was pressing
Ukraine to investigate his potential 2020 rival Joe Biden.
The
inquiry focuses on a July 25 phone call in which Mr Trump is accused
of asking Ukraine’s new President Volodymyr Zelensky to carry out
two investigations that could benefit him politically, including one
targeting Democratic political rival Joe Biden.
“Everyone
was in the loop,” Mr Sondland said. “It was no secret.”
Mr
Sondland implicated several key members of the US Administration in
the scandal, testifying that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed
off on parts of the pressure campaign, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting
White House chief of staff, was heavily involved. He said they all
understood that there was a “clear quid pro quo” linking a White
House meeting for Mr Zelensky to a promise by him to announce
investigations into the Bidens.
“I
know that members of this committee have frequently framed these
complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a quid
pro quo?” Mr Sondland said. “As I testified previously, with
regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the
answer is yes.”
He
said that Mr Trump held off on offering a summit with Mr Zelensky, as
his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani demanded Kiev publicly announced
that it was investigating a gas company on which former vice
president Joe Biden’s son Hunter held a paid board position.
Mr
Giuliani also wanted Mr Zelensky to investigate a widely discredited
conspiracy theory in which Ukraine planted evidence on a server of Mr
Biden’s Democratic Party to show that Russia interfered in the 2016
election, according to Mr Sondland.
“We
followed the President’s orders,” Mr Sondland said in his
prepared testimony to an open hearing of the House Intelligence
Committee.
He
said that Mr Trump forced US diplomats to work with Mr Giuliani.
“We
did not want to work with Mr Giuliani. Simply put, we played the hand
we were dealt,” he said.
“We
weren't happy with the presidential directive to 'talk with Rudy' …
but … it was the only course open to us.”
According
to Mr Sondland, the actions he took were on orders from Mr Giuliani,
who was following the commander-in-chief’s direction.
“Mr
Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House
visit for President (Volodymyr) Zelensky. Mr Giuliani demanded that
Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016
election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr Giuliani was expressing the
desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these
investigations were important to the President,” he said in the
statement, referring to the energy giant that hired Mr Biden’s son
Hunter.
According
to Mr Sondland, he “never received a clear answer” on why the US
suspended $391 million in military aid to Ukraine, which is battling
Russian-backed separatists, but that he “came to believe” it was
also tied to the investigations sought by Mr Trump.
“I
was adamantly opposed to any suspension of aid, as the Ukrainians
needed those funds to fight against Russian aggression,” he said.
“In
the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I
later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not
occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to
the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma, as Mr Giuliani
had demanded.”
Mr
Trump, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, released the aid to
Ukraine on September 11.
Mr
Sondland also testified that Mr Trump told him Ukraine had tried to
“take him down” during the election.
The
White House on Wednesday pushed back against Mr Sondland’s
testimony that there was a quid pro quo involving the US and Ukraine.
“Ambassador
Sondland previously testified that the President told him directly
that he was not interested in a quid pro quo,” the White House said
in a statement, referring to his closed-door testimony last month.
“He testified that President Trump repeatedly made it clear he
wanted no quid pro quo.”
Democrat
of California and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee Adam
Schiff described Mr Sondland’s testimony as “deeply significant
and troubling”.
“It
goes right to the heart of the issue of bribery, as well as other
potential high crimes and misdemeanours,” he said.
Standing
on the South Lawn of the White House while Mr Sondland was still at
the witness table, Mr Trump tried to distance himself from the
ambassador.
“I
don’t know him very well — I have not spoken to him much,” he
told reporters before leaving on a trip to Texas.
“This
is the final word from the President of the United States: I want
nothing.”
Mr
Trump was quoting himself from a conversation he had with Mr Sondland
about how he should proceed with the Ukrainian President the day
before his infamous phone call with Mr Zelensky.
Mr
Sondland was appearing in the second week of televised impeachment
hearings, in which Democrats are seeking to establish whether Mr
Trump abused the power of his office by leveraging military aid and a
White House meeting to extract a commitment from Mr Zelensky to probe
the Bidens.
The
House investigation could conceivably wrap up this week, with
evidence then sent to the House Judiciary Committee to draw up
articles of impeachment.
Mr
Trump’s impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House would place
the President on trial in the Senate, where a Republican majority
could protect him from removal.
However, there seems to be more...
BREAKING!
Sondland clears
Giuliani and Trump!
https://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message4190314/pg1
Sondland just took credit for all of it.
Sondland just took credit for all of it.
Turner:
"Is that your testimony here today, Ambassador Sondland, that
you have evidence that Donald Trump tied investigations to the aid?
Because I don't think you're saying that.”
Sondland:
"I've said repeatedly Congressman, I was presuming."
Turner:
"So no one told you. Giuliani didn't tell you. Mulvaney didn't
tell you. Nobody. Pompeo. Nobody else on this planet told you that
Donald Trump was tying aid to these investigations. Is that correct?"
Sondland:
"I think I already testified."
Turner:
"Answer the question. Is it correct? No one on this planet told
you that Donald Trump was tying this aid to the
investigations—because if your answer is yes, then the chairman is
wrong and the headline on CNN is wrong.
No
one on this planet told you that president Trump wastying aid to
investigation. Yes or no?"
Sondland:
"Yes"
Turner:
"So you really have no testimony here today that ties President
Trump to a scheme to withhold aid from Ukraine in exchange for these
investigations"
Sondland:
"Other than my own presumption"
Turner:
"Which is nothing."
Mic
fucking drop over!
Short
Version
VIDEO:
U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland Testifies: Trump told me: “I want
nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo."
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that “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.’”
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that “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.’”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.