Posted on 11/20/2019 7:27:46 AM PST by pilgrim
“At all times, I was acting in good faith,” Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland told Congress in his opening statement at Wednesday’s hearing of the House intelligence committee:
“As a presidential appointee, I followed the directions of the president. We worked with Mr. Giuliani because the President directed us to do so. We had no desire to set any conditions on the Ukrainians.”
But Giuliani did set conditions, Sondland said in his statement.
On the question, was there a quid pro quo? Sondland answered, “yes.”
“As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
Sondland said Giuliani told Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Ambassador Kurt Volker and others “that President Trump wanted a public statement from President Zelensky committing to investigations of Burisma and the 2016 election.
“Mr. Giuliani expressed those requests directly to the Ukrainians. Mr. Giuliani also expressed those requests directly to us. We all understood that these prerequisites for the White House call and White House meeting reflected President Trump’s desires and requirements.”
Sondland said his personal view, which he “shared repeatedly with others,” was that the White House meeting and military assistance should have proceeded without preconditions.
“Our only interest was to advance longstanding U.S. policy and to support Ukraine’s fragile democracy.” Sondland said he learned “in July and August” that the White House had suspended security aid to Ukraine:
“I was adamantly opposed to any suspension of aid,” he said. “I tried diligently to ask why the aid was suspended, but I never received a clear answer. 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.
“I shared concerns of the potential quid pro quo regarding the security aid with Senator Ron Johnson. And I also shared my concerns with the Ukrainians,” Sondland said.
Sondland also described President Trump’s skepticism toward Ukraine: “He expressed concerns that the Ukrainian government was not serious about reform. He even mentioned that Ukraine tried to take him down in the last election.”
Sondland confirmed he made a call to President Trump from a Kiev restaurant on July 26.
“I remember I was at a restaurant in Kiev, and I have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations.”
Sondland said he knew that investigations were “important to President Trump.”
However, Sondland said he has no recollection of discussing the Bidens on that phone call. He did not dispute other witness accounts of the call, which Trump said he does not remember.
“I know nothing about that,” Trump told a news conference on Nov. 13.
I CANT even watch a SECOND.
I can’t afford a new TV.
Did not realize there were this many ‘egotist, narcissists’ in the world.
Think I have lived in a protected cocoon!
He, sondland, seems to be enjoying his moment in the sun! And no capitalization, he is so self important.
They are making a big deal about QPQ for a state visit if Ukraine didn’t investigate the 16 election and Burisma. I figured they would someone to go on record saying there was a QPQ. That is why should said from the beginning that hell yes there was because there’s a treaty demanding that the corruption would be investigated. How damaging is this?
Boy, there are a bunch of clucking hens flapping around the yard this morning.
Exactly and this is payback for Guilliani being the President special emissary. How dare the President go around the great Sonland and send his own man to his turf!
Bad new for the clown show. Presidents have always used special emissaries. There is nothing at all new or usual about this
Perhaps the best historical example is Henry Hopkins who was FDR’s special emissary for a whole lot of personal diplomacy
Quid pro quo statute? Buhler?
Sondland’s personal view is not germane to what we know are the facts of the matter.
LOL!!
I have to shut the sound off, and watching can tell when mr sondlond makes a point he thinks significant! The look on his face reveals his mind game!
Conditions should already be in place on ALL foreign aid to every country. If it isn’t, I would consider it government malpractice. This is all a farce.
He seems to think it is!
Sondland answered, “yes.”
Good then step to the forefront and explain to the rest of us what exactly constitutes the Quid Pro Quo, i’ll be patiently waiting...…..
More hearsay - is there a transcript or is this form a bad memory?
Didn’t mr clinton sign some sort of agreement with Ukraine to that effect? Not sure, but somewhere on the net or here saw something to that effect.
I get sick just thinking about it.
Well that settles it. Never mind that investigating corruption and the 2016 election are good things to look into, and Giuliani isn’t Trump. The word of whatshisname is final!
That phrase is a not a statement of fact. I believe Adam Schiff is a communist pig, but it doesn't make is true.
Not only that. since when is “HIS PERSONAL View” relevant to anything?
WIKI-——On September 26, 2019, the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released the unclassified text of the whistleblower complaint regarding the interactions between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.[46] In this document, Ambassador Sondland, along with the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, Ambassador Kurt Volker, were described as having “provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to ‘navigate’ the demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelensky”.[47] After further investigation, The Washington Post concluded that Sondland had “seized control of the Ukraine portfolio to help Trump.”[48]
In the complaint released by the US Select committee on Intelligence, Sondland’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s activity was outlined in a text conversation with the interim US chargé d’affaires for Ukraine Bill Taylor: [12:47:11 AM] Bill Taylor: “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” It took Sondland approximately 5 hours to reply to Taylor’s text message, and it was later revealed that Sondland had called Trump prior to writing a response, in which the president repeated the phrase “no quid pro quo” several times.[49]
[9/9/2019, 5:19:35 AM] Gordon Sondland: Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign I suggest we stop the back and forth by text If you still have concerns I recommend you give Lisa Kenna or S a call to discuss them directly. Thanks.[50]
On October 8, the Trump administration attempted to block Sondland from testifying in the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.[51] Sondland testified October 17, 2019.[52][53][54][55][56][57]
On November 5, the New York Times reported that Sondland had provided updated testimony stating that he did in fact view delivery of the aid package as contingent upon the Ukrainian government publicly opening an investigation of Trump’s political rivals as desired by the President. According to the testimony, he relayed this position to Ukrainian government officials.[58]
In early November Fiona Hill testified that Sondland, as a newcomer unaccustomed to diplomatic protocols, exhibited behavior that was “comical” but “deeply concerning”, and his lack of adherence to security protocols made him a “counterintelligence risk.” Her manager John Bolton told her: “I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.”[59]
On November 13, William Taylor, the acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, testified that a staff member who was later identified as David Holmes told him that he overheard a phone conversation about Ukraine “investigations” between Sondland and the president at a restaurant in Kyiv. The call was made the day following Trump’s phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which he asked Zelenskiy to investigate corruption. Taylor said there were two other people having lunch in the restaurant, and they heard the conversation as well.[60]
Appearing in a closed-door inquiry on November 15, in a written opening statement Holmes said he heard Trump ask, “So, he’s gonna do the investigation?” and Sondland replied, “he’s gonna do it” adding Zelensky will do “anything you ask him to.” Holmes also testified that Sondland later told him that Trump “did not give a shit about Ukraine” and “only cared about the big stuff ... the big stuff that benefits the president like the Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing.” In the same conversation, Sondland was also heard to characterize President Zelensky’s strongly favorable view of President Trump, informing the latter that Zelenskiy “loves your ass.” [61]
U.S. security experts were alarmed by the fact that Sondland called a U.S. president on an unsecured line in a public place, particularly in Ukraine, where calls are assumed to be monitored by Russia.[62]
On November 16, the House impeachment investigators released the closed-door testimony of former National Security Council official Tim Morrison. Morrison voiced concerns saying that during the time that he had worked with Sondland he was not following the normal diplomatic process as used by other personnel but rather was on “a second track,” chiefly led by Sondland, “where Rudy Giuliani’s name would come up.”
Morrison also testified that he had heard from Sondland that “US aid to Ukraine was conditioned on the country announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.” Morrison said that on September 7, Sondland told him of a phone call he’d had from Trump in which the president said, “that there was no quid pro quo,
but President Zelensky must announce the opening of the investigations and he should want to do it.”[63]
During his public testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives on November 19, 2019, Morrison stated that Sondland confirmed to him that there was indeed a quid pro quo for US aid to Ukraine and Sondland told him this following a telephone conversation Sondland had with Ukraine official Andriy Yermak on September 1, 2019.[64]
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.