The witness Republicans hoped would bail out Trump made clear the president and his lawyer demanded a quid pro quo deal with Ukraine
” but did so “at the express direction of the president of the United States.” Sondland noted that to refuse would mean losing “an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the president’s orders.” He added that, at the time, he didn’t think Giuliani‘s role was improper, nor did he know that the ex-mayor was working with individuals, but, in retrospect, knowing what he knows now, he “would not have acquiesced to [Giuliani’s] participation.
Then he dropped the bomb that Republicans will have difficulty spinning on Fox News, though they’ll no doubt rise to the occasion: ...as I testified previously, Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit forMr. 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.
Finally, just to put as fine a point on it as possible, Sondland told the room: “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? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
The president, of course, will no doubt attempt to claim at some point today that Sondland has no idea what he’s talking about, or that he’s a Never Trumper, so, just for posterity:
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