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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBREAKING: Sondland will throw Trump under the bus.
The U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, intends to tell Congress this week that the content of a text message he wrote denying a quid pro quo with Ukraine was relayed to him directly by President Trump in a phone call, according to a person familiar with his testimony.
Sondland plans to tell lawmakers he has no knowledge of whether the president was telling him the truth at that moment. Its only true that the president said it, not that it was the truth, said the person familiar with Sondlands planned testimony, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters.
The Sept. 9 exchange between Sondland and the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine has become central to the House Democrats impeachment inquiry into whether the president abused his office in pressuring Ukraine to open an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden and his son, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. The White House and its defenders have held up Sondlands text, which included no quid pro quos of any kind, as proof that none was ever considered.
Sondland will hold out the possibility that Trump wasnt truthful in his denial of a quid pro quo as well as an alternative scenario in which the presidents interest in the scheme soured at a time when his administration faced mounting scrutiny over why it was withholding about $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine and delaying a leader-level visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-envoy-who-denied-quid-pro-quo-now-says-he-isnt-certain/2019/10/12/4abe0902-bc19-44e8-8c38-9aa35c544859_story.html
czarjak
(11,278 posts)Stand by your man.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Ask Rudy.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)10 points!
vlyons
(10,252 posts)It's that simple. Avoid committing perjury and free yourself from the taint of Trump. He ain't worth going to prison for.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)"Thats when Sondland, according to the persons understanding, called Trump, who then told him he didnt 'want a quid pro quo .?.?. didnt want anything from Ukraine.'
He may be trying to give Trump and his henchmen just enough wiggle room to try to claim that he didn't want a quid pro quo and told Sondland.
It's BS, but ...
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Sondland will say, thats what they told me to say.
And the White House will say we told him to tell the truth.
As you know, Sondland is not a competent witness to someone elses state of mind or intent.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Denying he was given the talking point would be far worse, since we know there was a record of the telephone call.
Sondland can say he called the White House to relay concerns about the aid, and thats what he was told and passed along.
The only thing that will trip him up is if there was evidence he knew there was a quid pro quo.
The White House position is simply we told him to tell the truth and he did.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)need corroboration. Someone will sing, I think.
ancianita
(36,095 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,035 posts)awesomerwb1
(4,268 posts)understanding it to be. Hell be trying to help cheeto, not throw him under the bus.
kentuck
(111,103 posts)Maybe they should treat him as a "hostile witness"?
kentuck
(111,103 posts)He ain't going to jail for Trump.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)kentuck
(111,103 posts)But he might get a break from law enforcement?
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)Kinds of trump enablers ..the real crooks who donated millions and want something and the career minded ones who just want to keep their jobs ( more likely to help us)???
Flaleftist
(3,473 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)"and YOU get a pardon! And YOU get a pardon!"
ToxMarz
(2,169 posts)Unless they got him dirty, he's a lightweight at this game. He paid a million bucks for a vanity ambassadorship. Now I bet he just wants to go back to his hotels and hope he didn't screw the pooch.
bmpbmp
(310 posts)Raftergirl
(1,287 posts)Will not go to jail and give up his cushy life for Donny.
coeur_de_lion
(3,680 posts)All he has to do is tell the truth.
mfcorey1
(11,001 posts)"I need to do the right thing moment."