Well, it seems that Ambassador Gordon Sondland has made some updates to his earlier impeachment inquiry testimony. The New York Times is reporting that Sondland has acknowledged a quid pro quo:
Breaking News: The U.S. ambassador Gordon Sondland, a key witness in the impeachment inquiry, acknowledged delivering a quid pro quo message to Ukraine in a major revision to his impeachment testimony https://t.co/Fg69Mxbd4S
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 5, 2019
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) November 5, 2019
Oh.
BREAKING from the NY Times: US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland updated his testimony to acknowledge delivering a quid-pro-quo message to Ukraine https://t.co/44jNkbMMBs
— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) November 5, 2019
"A critical witness in the inquiry offered Congress substantial new testimony this week, revealing that he told a top Ukrainian official that the country likely would not receive US military aid unless it publicly committed to investigations Trump wanted"https://t.co/f7upB5v2iQ
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) November 5, 2019
Hoo boy.
"In the addendum, Mr. Sondland said he had 'refreshed my recollection' after reading the testimony given by Mr. Taylor and Timothy Morrison, the senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council." https://t.co/pNEG02jz4V
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) November 5, 2019
"By early September, Mr. Sondland said, he had become convinced that military aid and a White House meeting were conditioned on Ukraine committing to those investigations." https://t.co/dUcX1lujfa
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) November 5, 2019
Recommended
New from the addendum to Sondland’s testimony: “I now recall speaking individually with Mr. Yermak, where I said resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) November 5, 2019
READ: Sondland submitted this amendment to his testimony, saying other witnesses refreshed his recollection tha tmilitary aid was withheld as part of Trump's push to get a Biden investigation going. pic.twitter.com/AnQsm0P2Ag
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 5, 2019
WOW: Kurt Volker TEXTED to a top Ukrainian official the script they wanted Zelensky to read to announce the Burisma (i.e. Biden)/2016 election investigaitons.
The latest:https://t.co/g9bkSdlarw
The text: pic.twitter.com/GpQPSiBrDw
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 5, 2019
Hmmm.
Sondland told lawmakers that when he talked to Pompeo abt Trump wanting him to work with RUDY on Ukraine: “Pompeo rolled his eyes and said: Yes, it’s
something we have to deal with.”— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) November 5, 2019
Remember when this was universally denounced as an unacceptable usurpation of the will of Congress, if proven true, like four weeks ago. We were younger then. https://t.co/dUcX1lujfa pic.twitter.com/r8zApdLLtS
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) November 5, 2019
At the very least, this complicates things somewhat for Team Trump.
Note well: according to Ambassador Sondland, the aid was held up for a *statement* not an actual investigation.
This is relevant to Trump's motive: to make political hay about a rival, not to actually investigate corruption. https://t.co/QXAlKuvyz7
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) November 5, 2019
Could Team Trump try to use that as a defense? Does it even matter at this point?
I think we all know where the buck stops. https://t.co/dUcX1lujfa pic.twitter.com/ZDN2gyRpdJ
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) November 5, 2019
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional text and tweets.
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