November 20, 2019 — 8:33am
WASHINGTON — Ambassador Gordon Sondland told House impeachment investigators Wednesday that Rudy Giuliani was pushing a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine that he had to go along with it because it’s what President Donald Trump wanted.
“Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president,” Sondland testified.
[Sondland said]
[,,,] Trump told him and other diplomats working on Ukraine issues “talk with Rudy” on those matters. “So we followed the president’s orders.”
[...] he spoke with Trump on a cellphone from a busy Kyiv restaurant the day after the president prodded Ukraine’s leader to investigate political rival Joe Biden.
[...] he kept Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top administration officials aware of what was going on.
[...] he specifically told Vice President Mike Pence he “had concerns” that U.S. military aid to Ukraine “had become tied” to the investigations.
“Everyone was in the loop,” Sondland testified in opening remarks. “It was no secret.”
[...] He has told lawmakers the White House has records of the July 26 call, despite the fact that Trump has said he doesn’t recall the conversation.
The ambassador’s account of the recently revealed call supports the testimony of multiple witnesses who have spoken to impeachment investigators over the past week.
Sondland recalls the phone conversation and says it is documented. All Trump says is he cannot recall it happening, not that it did not happen. It is clear that quid pro quo was the requirement, and the players all maerched to that tune.
Pence. Pompeo.
What about Barr? Was Barr in the loop? Barr not knowing what Rudy was going about doing seems, at best, grossly negligent. More likely, he knew and did what he could to aim at plausible deniability. But Pence. He was part of what Trump faces as potential grounds for removal from office. It the shoe fits Trump, then by Sondlund's testimony, it fits Pence; who stands now as Trump's possible successor.
What did Pence know, and when did he know it?