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Pence Chief Of Staff Fires Back At Sondland: That Conversation Never Happened
Hotair ^
| 11/20/2019
| Ed Morrissey
Posted on 11/20/2019 10:56:32 AM PST by SeekAndFind
What did Mike Pence know, and when did he know it? According to Gordon Sondland, he told the vice president on September 1 that he believed that military aid to Ukraine had been stalled as leverage for investigations into corruption. Sondland included this in his opening statement:
Not surprisingly, Adam Schiff drilled down into this immediately during Sondlands live testimony. The testimony itself is rather weak sauce, even if did prompt a strong response from Pences office:
Note here that this testimony has the same weakness as Sondlands statement. Even taking this at face value, Sondlands testifying that (a) he believed that there was a linkage between the military aid and the investigations, (b) Pence nodded when Sondland aired his opinion, and (c) the topic of aid came up in Pences conversation with Ukraine. Thats not very compelling in terms of a dictated quid pro quo. Sondlands testimony is just that Pence nodded at the notion, not that he got any indication of confirmation or even factual knowledge of Sondlands belief.
Pences office didnt let it slide, however. In a statement sent out widely to media via e-mail, including Hot Air, chief of staff Marc Short blasted Sondlands testimony as false. The conversation that Sondland described never happened, according to Short:
The Vice President never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations.
Ambassador Gordon Sondland was never alone with Vice President Pence on the September 1 trip to Poland. This alleged discussion recalled by Ambassador Sondland never happened.
Multiple witnesses have testified under oath that Vice President Pence never raised Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden, Crowdstrike, Burisma, or investigations in any conversation with Ukrainians or President Zelensky before, during, or after the September 1 meeting in Poland.
This should be rather easy to determine. Does anyone have the security logs for Pence in Poland, which would likely document Pences movements and those around him? Surely Pence had his staff around during this trip, too. If Sondland wasnt alone with Pence, then his story begins to look a little suspect.
But even if he was alone with Pence, this still doesnt prove much of anything. Sondland didnt testify that Pence told him anything about a quid pro quo, just that he nodded at Sondlands concerns over the potential for one. As Short notes, no one has suggested that Pence pushed anything of the sort; indeed, testimony already exists that Pence never linked anything to aid, nor was inclined to do so.
Short and Pence better hope it stays that way, of course, but in this they are helped by Sondlands continually changing recollections. Key parts of his story keep evolving, which Sondland blames on a lack of cooperation from State over his notes and his documents. That may well be the case, but its not making Sondland look more reliable as time wears on.
Update: Republicans on the panel are already making hay over Sondlands shifting recollections:
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: demlies; denial; impeachment; marcshort; pence; sondland; trumpukraine; ukraine; vppence
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To: SeekAndFind
How does a douchebag like this Soundland get an ambassadorship. He seems like a complete tool.
No notes, no diary, hardly any recollection of any particular event, except events that are negative towards the administration for the most part.
My 14 yo remembers more than this toolbag!!!
21
posted on
11/20/2019 11:26:37 AM PST
by
bantam
To: HighSierra5
I agree. To date, no mention of Pence and voila, now Sondland remembers mentioning something to Pence.
Dems are going for a two-fer.
Question is “why” is Sondland changing testimony? Someone has threatened him or he is dirty too.
22
posted on
11/20/2019 11:26:49 AM PST
by
Engedi
(ui)
To: BushCountry
He apparently is some guy that posts maybe once or twice a month and then vanishes.
Likely spending the rest of the time at the GOP Briefing Room Forum.
To: Engedi
He said there were threats to his family and protests outside his hotel. I believe a Dem rep called for it to happen.
24
posted on
11/20/2019 11:27:48 AM PST
by
pnz1
(Our indulgence with you ran out a long time ago.)
To: SeekAndFind
How much did the Dim’s offer Soundland in a “quid pro quo” to change his story?
25
posted on
11/20/2019 11:29:22 AM PST
by
Wuli
To: pnz1
Ahhh ok. Thanks for letting me know. I’m sure it is all staged.
26
posted on
11/20/2019 11:30:37 AM PST
by
Engedi
(ui)
To: Heff
Dude, try 20mg of Valium. Trump is going nowhere.
27
posted on
11/20/2019 11:31:40 AM PST
by
Obadiah
(Kill the deep state or lose the Republic.)
To: Heff
Can you imagine any part of the serious establishmentmuch less Trump and his supportersgoing along with that scenario?
28
posted on
11/20/2019 11:32:04 AM PST
by
reasonisfaith
(What are the implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
To: Heff
Sorry Democrat Fascist propaganda bot. Your lies flys in the face of the facts
Sondland: Ive never heard from President Trump that the aid was conditioned on the investigations.
Game over. That he assumed something is utterly irrelevant. You lose again Democrat Fascist Party bots
29
posted on
11/20/2019 11:32:53 AM PST
by
MNJohnnie
(They would have to abandon leftism to achieve sanity. Freeper Olog-hai)
To: Heff
I think your full of sh!t.
America sees the absurdity of these lying bastards. Completely transparent!!
Because a bunch of loud twitter fans say impeach, will not make it so!!
30
posted on
11/20/2019 11:33:23 AM PST
by
bantam
To: SeekAndFind
This guy is a real piece of work isnt he..he makes up a bogus LIE so the commie media can run with it
To: SeekAndFind
Does anyone have the security logs for Pence in Poland, which would likely document Pences movements and those around him?
Get outta town. They have things like that? Wow!!!!
I mean if they have one for the Vice President, when he’s on trip to Poland, a very very friendly country to the USA, then they must also have something similar for the President. And if they have something similar for President Trump, then I’m betting it’s probably SecService protocol and they must have one for the last occupant of the White House. Holy Moly!!!
Does anyone have the security logs for the last occupant of the White House on Sept 11-12, 2011, which would likely docment his movements and those around him?
32
posted on
11/20/2019 11:35:31 AM PST
by
qaz123
To: Heff
You're full of sh!t. And I know that because of the following:
1. Donald Trump isn't even the President today. He was impeached and removed from office after the Mueller report was released. I know this is true because there were a bunch of nitwits here on FR telling me this was going to happen.
2. Item #1 is actually wrong because Donald Trump wasn't even President when the Mueller report was released. He had resigned previously over the Stormy Daniels/Michael Cohen fiasco. I know this is true because there were a bunch of nitwits here on FR claiming this was going to happen.
3. But Item #2 can't be true, either. Trump was never inaugurated as President of the United States because the Electoral College conspired to throw the election to Hillary Clinton when it voted in December 2016. I know this is true because there were a bunch of nitwits here on FR who insisted this was going to happen.
4. Oh, wait a minute ... Item #3 can't be true because Hillary Clinton had already won the Electoral vote anyway. That's because the Jill Stein recounts ended up giving Clinton the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the weeks after Election Day. I know this is true because there were a bunch of nitwits here on FR who swore this was going to happen.
5. What am I saying? There was no need for recounts because the Democrats had already rigged the results in those three states on Election Day to give them to Hillary Clinton. I know this is true because there were a bunch of nitwits posting on the live Election Day thread, swearing that this was going to happen.
Long story short ...
I'm tired of reading silly nonsense from Free Republic nitwits. Please go away and don't post that sh!t here.
Oh, and please make a donation on your way out the door. These fundraisers never end because good, decent, generous Freepers get chased away by all the nitwits here.
33
posted on
11/20/2019 11:36:58 AM PST
by
Alberta's Child
("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
To: Heff
Heff let’s put a bet on your moronic statement.
Tell you what, if Trump is impeached and forcefully removed from office before the end of the Republican Convention on August 27/2020 then I will make a $1000 donation to this website. I expect you to do the same if he is not removed from office by that date? Are we on?
To: bantam
The way I understand it, Sondland was a Never Trumper during the primaries and even during the Presidential elections.
He became sort of a supporter after Trump became President and even helped to fund his inauguration.
He was rewarded for this with the EU ambassadorshop. He was never a whole hearted supporter of Trump.
35
posted on
11/20/2019 11:41:49 AM PST
by
SeekAndFind
(look at Michigan, it will)
To: profit_guy
See my previous post on this thread. This jackass "Heff" was all over these drama-queen threads back in 2016:
The Democrats real strategy in launching recounts
I'm sure he fainted and had to be revived about 450 times between Election Day 2016 and Inauguration Day 2017.
36
posted on
11/20/2019 11:47:29 AM PST
by
Alberta's Child
("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
To: SeekAndFind
10 million Soros-Dollars each and well, all of them. Maybe not Rand Paul but the rest of them seem just one millimeter more American then the communist, inlawful, America-hating rats on the other side of the room, IMHO
37
posted on
11/20/2019 11:48:42 AM PST
by
epluribus_2
(He, had the best mom - ever. my)
To: SeekAndFind
If we’re gonna impeach presidents on our feelings and assumptions from now on- then no president will ever serve a full term
Asw soon as any president takes the oath of office- someone can simply come forward and claim “From what he said, I assumed he was trying to blackmail me, or blackmail a certain country, Therefore we must impeach”
Thankfully, in the real world, the bar for impeachment is very high- high crimes and misdemeanors
Sondlan’s assumptions do not rise to proof of high crimes comitted by Presdient Trump-
Whistlebritches from California just said something along the lines of “If you saw someone with a rain coat on, an umbrella, and water dripping off the umbrella, wouldn’t you assume it was raining out?”
No! That is just ONE ASSUMPTION- another assumption could be that a water main had broken right outside the building, and people needed to dress appropriately to get through it-
ANOTHER ASSUMPTION could be that it had recently rained, no longer was, but the person coming in got drenched by a passing car
Sorry whistlebritches- your ridiculous analogy that you are trying to use to build a case to impeach a sitting president is ignorant! ASSUMPTIONS are nowhere near enough evidence to impeach a president!
38
posted on
11/20/2019 11:52:49 AM PST
by
Bob434
To: SeekAndFind
Pray tell, which Republican Senators will vote to remove Trump?I couldn't resist, even though your question wasn't directed to me.
Romney, Collins, maybe Murkowski.
On the other side, Manchin would be a possible crossover "acquit."
To: Heff
pssst- see my last post- you sound like a liberal- liberals beleive facts don’t matter-
Yep- sondland sang- an idiot’s song- full of assumptions- assumptions aren’t enough to convict anyone because assumptions are subjective opinion, of which there are always many different opinions-, NOT objective fact-
40
posted on
11/20/2019 11:55:13 AM PST
by
Bob434
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