Here is the NEW "bombshell" statement the Democrats are lauding- “I presumed that the aid suspension had become linked to the proposed anti-corruption statement,” Mr. Sondland said. His comment was PURE speculation, which he openly admitted.
The ONLY first hand information Sondland could offer came when he described a phone call he had with the POTUS, when he asked DIRECTLY about the situation and the POTUS gave him a DIRECT answer.
Sondland's description of the phone call to the POTUS from the transcript of his testimony:
Sonland-
" I asked him one open-ended question: What do you want from Ukraine?
And as I recaIl, he was in a very bad mood. It was a
very quick conversation. He said: I want nothing. I want
no quid pro quo. I want Zelensky to do the right thing.
And I said: What does that mean?
And he said: I want him to do what he ran on.
And that was the end of the conversation."
This conversation obliterated the "bombshell" that the Democrats are lauding. His speculation was formed through second, third, and fourth hand information he had gathered by talking to others. Once he talked directly to the POTUS, his speculation was proven wrong.
Am I surprised that the NYTimes and other MSM outlets skip over the total exoneration of the POTUS and claim that pure speculation on Sondland's part is a "bombshell"? Not at all . Will they continue to skip over the exculpatory evidence from the transcripts and concentrate on policy differences and speculation? ABSOLUTELY!!!
Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden's son. He didn't say Ukraine should make up evidence. He asked if there was evidence. I don't think it's a big deal.
76
@Julia
Do you understand the implications of a President of the United States secretly asking a foreign nation to help him get reelected, truth or not?
Do you understand why they bent over backwards to hide the transcript of this call?
Do you understand the threat to U.S. sovereignty if foreign countries are involved in our elections at any level?
Do you understand that your vote and my vote and everbody's vote are the single greatest power any citizen has to affirm and control what happens within American sovereign borders, and belongs solely to us ("We The People"?
Lastly, do you comprehend the threat to our Founders' carefully crafted balanced, tri-partite government, if the Executive Branch arbitrarily withholds aid to a foreign ally that The Congress has already approved--especially where the holdup is not for national security purposes, but for entirely selfish reasons?
Can you please go back and start looking at how many crimes are involved in what The President and his allies has perpetrated?
1207
@Julia You don't think saying a country won't receive funding if they don't investigate is a big deal?
368
@Julia
Well he effectively held the knife to their throats and "suggested" they search for evidence as a price for removing the knife. That's the quid pro quo. Simple, effective.
424
He adimtted that he used the taxpayer's money for his own benefit but it is not an impeachable offense. What is? This president declared war on the Constitution itself. Not only should he be impeached but behind bars.
24
If Trump isn't removed from office for this, it will be a green light for him doing it with any other money Congress allocates - to anyone. It will allow him to conscript into his service anyone receiving money from the government.
12
One someone testifies one way, and them another, they might have well have never testified at all.
More and more, the impeachment craze is starting to damage the Democratic Party. It is important to start thinking about who is being benefited by this mania, and who is not.
The commotion is great for the media, as it has generated lots of viewer interest; but where will the Democratic Party be, after the barrier of the 2/3 Senate Vote requirement, brings impeachment to a screeching halt?
1
A President generally cannot be removed from office for actions and activities occurring within the world and realm and his domain of diplomacy and his conduct of diplomacy as Diplomat-in-Chief.
A President can be impeached and removed upon conviction for even misdemeanors such as jaywalking, double parking. If a President jaywalks and is issued a summons by a police office and then refuses to pay the fine or contest such in court then refusing to assent to the law and or abide by the laws could result in removal from the office of the Presidency for even such a seemingly minor matter.
Removal over diplomacy is excluded as its a likely rare instance or exclusive niche per diplomacy and diplomatic powers and simply one where the President is not above the law but the power of the law in some instances does not cross the boundary into existence in that realm per sovereigns and diplomacy, or, that the laws simply do not apply.
The President is not above the law. It is simply that the law does not apply, or, as aptly that the law rarely applies in the realm of diplomacy.
4
It's true that this is an important development, but it's also important to remember that one of the laws Trump broke during the Ukraine call (52 U.S. Code § 30121) makes it unlawful to solicit the contribution of a "thing of value" in connection with a U.S. election.
It says NOTHING about a quid pro quo.
In other words, simply asking "for a favor though" is a violation of the law.
9
When did it become just fine to lie? It seems this country has given up caring about holding accountable those we trust--and pay--to govern and represent us. It used to be that the media tried to refrain from labeling a politician's statement a lie because it was assumed that deliberately deceiving the public would trigger swift and sure consequences. It was just a given that voters would not tolerate blatant lies. Now it's no big deal. We allow powerful people to "walk back" earlier unequivocal statements, "revise" testimony. and "clarify" one thing as actually meaning its opposite. Does nothing matter?
14
If the American electorate starts polling at 75% in favor of impeachment and conviction of Donald Trump, the Senate will be prepared to convict. Senators are no more loyal than Trump himself. It's strictly politics and we aren't there yet.
6
I don’t understand. What does he mean by ‘memory refreshed’.
This is perjury. Shouldn’t he penalized for committing PERJURY?
6
@Shreekant
It’s a standard legal term referring to a witness consulting contemporaneous records to help clarify his or her recollections. (I’m not a lawyer; I was a regular witness several decades ago as a CPS worker.) My understanding is witnesses can correct erroneous testimony without penalty if they do it in time, i.e., before the proceeding is over. This is presumably to encourage (eventual) truthfulness. I also read that Sondland’s initial statements to Congress were not under oath, though I don’t know if that’s accurate.
Richard Nixon knew when his goose was cooked. If the American electorate starts polling at 75% in favor of impeachment and conviction of Donald Trump, the Senate will be prepared to convict. Senators are no more loyal than Trump himself. It's strictly politics, folks, and we aren't there yet.
2
Public hearings have yet to kick off. In May of 1973 with an approval rating of 44% Nixon's impeachment hearings began and by August his approval rating dropped to 30%. In January of 1974 Nixon's approval rating was at 25% and it stayed there until he resigned that August.
For Clinton's impeachment a majority did not want him to be impeached. Presently, a majority do want Trump to impeached. The strength and weight of that evidence will I suspect similarly move the public to favor impeachment. Trump is even picking up more charges bringing into focus his wide depth of corruption.
Keeping Trump on as President is simply not possible because it would then mean that Trump is above the law. Clearly that is both unconstitutional and unsustainable.
7
This is beginning to assume the appearance of a RICO (Racketeering In Corrupt Organizations) Act matter. The corrupt organization? The Republican Party or various dark money Republican superpacs. The predicate felony, failure of Guilani to register as a lobbyist and agent of a foreign government (or take your pick). Sondlund is Exhibit 1 showing the need for and benefit of in camera, confidential testimony to avoid collusion among and between witnesses.
7
Update? Is that what we call it now? Is this a new legal thing? If so, I guess perjury is old hat.
6
Donald Trump, Lindsay Graham, Mike Pence, Gordon Sondland, Bill Barr and Rudy Giuliani have all failed the American People... voters of all political parties. They have acted irresponsibly and dishonestly. They need to be held accountable. Impeach Trump and take the rest of them to court.
8
I like how he called her emotional. As one writer put it, "'Emotional' is a term used to label women whom you don't want to have a voice in a situation. When a couple is having an argument, even if a woman has a well-thought-out reason for being upset, a guy might say, 'You're just being emotional.' It's a way to discredit her instead of having to listen; the words 'you're acting crazy' really mean 'I don't have to pay attention to you,'" Matthew Zawadzki, Calling women out for expressing feelings ultimately disempowers them, and delegitimizes whatever they're having those feelings about."
7
What scares me, possibly even more than Trump staying on after 2020, is if he gets thrown out of office and Pence becomes president. Would conservative voters vote for Pence in 2020 (assuming he runs) or some other un-American Republican version of Trump so that no Democrat can win the WH?
3
Actually it appears to be democrats that have reversed, from concentrating on the Biden part of the conversation which was still unlikely quid pro quo to an obvious non-political part of the call regarding corruption in general. Hmmmmmm .....
It's a Runaway Train.
It will eventually reach its destination!
6
The nomination of Sondland, a major donor to the Trump campaign with no previous experience in any diplomatic job , to the coveted position of ambassador to the EU is in itself a quid pro quo.
9
@Ran: It is very adventurous to buy a sensitive diplomatic post with political donations. "Bundling" pays for such offices.
You really have to ask yourself would Kevin McCarthy, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, Lindsey Graham and othersin the Republician party really take the same position on all this if the President was Obama and Not Trump? If it's wrong it's wrong No Matter who is in the White House. But in the Political World it doesn't work like that.
6
After a brief discussion with his attorney, Sondland decided the truth was preferable to jail time.
11
Guiliani is behind this Ukrainian quid pro quo scheme. And he was paid $500,000 by Lev Parnas to represent Trump on a "pro bono" basis. Lev Parnas got the money from Dmitry Firtash, a Russian oligarch close to Putin who made billions selling Russian natural gas from Gasprom to Ukraine, as a middleman installed by Putin. So Putin is essentially paying for legal counsel for the President of the United States. Why is this not a focus of Congressional investigation?
9
I think the "lead" should have been, "Big time trump donor Gordon Sondland today admitted lying to Congress about the Ukraine scandal and reversed his earlier testimony in an effort to avoid felony perjury charges."
13
Please stop with “quid pro quo”; it was extortion. Plain and simple.
15
Yes, well, you know, it's Trump.
3
Sondland is still a perjurer. He should be indicted for perjury and taken to trial.
His recanting his previous lies while under oath then can be taken by the sentencing judge in setting his sentence.
You cannot un-perjure yourself.
3
@Matthew O'Brien
Listen, I detest Trump as much as anyone. But I’m pretty sure you’re wrong. You can un-perjure yourself if you do it while the proceeding is still going on, and voluntarily. It encourages people to think twice before risking jail.
2
Hmm, so Sondland didn't initially tell the Democrats what they wanted to hear, but now, after hearing what other witnesses have said, he gets a "do over," andnow "revises" his testimony? He didn't recognize a "quid pro who" when he first allegedly heard it, without prodding or a cookie from Adam Schiff? Seems like a pretty slender reed to base impeachment upon, especially when some polls have shown that only a plurality of respondents (i.e. less than a majority) favor it.
4
@Richard
He probably talked to his own lawyer who warned him he had a last chance to tell the truth, which was what the Democrats, and, I must presume, everyone else, wanted to hear.
3
“Mr. Sondland’s disclosure appeared intended to insulate him from accusations that he intentionally misled Congress during his earlier testimony, in which he frequently said he could not recall key details and events under scrutiny by impeachment investigators.”
This’ll sound absolutely crazy, but bear with me for a minute: suppose—just suppose—that there actually exists in this country a parallel criminal “justice” system designed to address the needs of the plutocratic class. I know, absurd, but hear me out: suppose a multi-millionaire could get up and brazenly lie before Congress, under oath, and then when he’s caught out, be permitted to “revise” his testimony to make it consistent with facts subsequently coming to light that have utterly contradicted his earlier statements, and Congress is all, like, “no harm, no foul.” I feel silly even imagining such a scenario. I mean, if you or I were ever hauled before a Congressional committee and caught out lying under oath—hell, if we perjured ourselves in a courtroom or in a deposition—we would, you know, be in a world of hurt.
So this guy Sondland, getting to skate on a naked lie uttered under oath before the House of Representatives, and given a pass…? Nah. Can’t have happened. Must be Fake News.
9
People of a certain age will remember the verbal gyrations of President Nixon's press secretary, Ron Ziegler; they were sometimes referred to as "ziegling." Too bad Stephanie Grisham's name doesn't lend itself readily to a similar construction: "grishing"? "grishelling"?
5
What a compelling tale. Donald Trump, his personal attorney, and the ambassador he selected because of a large campaign donation, forming a dream team to battle corruption in Ukraine. Truly inspirational!
9
People who has to refresh their mind to tell the truth shouldn’t be occupying those positions.
5
Let's review. This is the same m.o. we have seen for the past three years with this administration, a revision of testimony, form filed under penalty of perjury, etc. once the testifier/filer/whomever gets caught in the lie. Still perjury.
5
Can someone please help me understand why a congressional subpoena can be ignored and the individual faces no consequences? I’d think if I ignored a subpoena, I’d go to jail. Thank you!
10
Pretty funny. Once he discovered the investigators were interviewing Ukrainian officials he began to fully appreciate the consequences of perjury.
9
That " Quid pro quo " false concept is annoying .
It is not what it means in Latin .
It is latin ? Right ?
A Quid pro quo is a situation in which something was taken for something else . A confusion.
There is no confusion here .
3
Can we stop fixating on a "quid pro quo"? Trump and his staff asked the president of a foreign country to publicly declare support for a debunked conspiracy theory in service of Trump's reelection ambitions.
Inviting a foreign country to interfere in an election -- the most solemn of a democracy's rituals -- is treasonous. And surely the founders would have considered treason a "high crime and misdemeanor."
What patriotic American wouldn't?
17
@Allison: Lots of fakes cloak themselves in patriotism. Government itself is a troika comprised of a legislature to make laws, an executive to implement laws, and a judiciary to resolve disputes about the meanings of laws. There is nothing special about the US product thereof, other than its profound malapportionment.
1
Treason is declaring war on the United States or giving aid and comfort to an enemy of the United States. Ukraine is not an enemy of the United States. What Trump did was wrong on many levels, but it was not treason.
@Steve Bolger Agreed. But I am referring to true patriotism, true love of country, not the synthetic variety served up by Trump and his ilk.
1
Lied under oath. Charge him with a federal crime. Plain and simple.
13
@Iain
Why not charge the entire Republican Party, no, all the people who committed the absolute treason by not voting for Hillary Clinton?
I have to laugh at the absurdity of much of what goes down in TrumpWorld, evil it is. An example from this article: According to Sondland, Trump complained that "Ukraine was trying to take him down.”
Sounds as if Sondland has joined the ranks of the "Never Trumpers." Goes to show, money can't buy you love.
4
So either he lied the first time he testified or he lied this time. Either way, the testimony of a self-professed liar is of little use either to the defense or to the prosecution.
5
@michaelscody, Sondland is not a self-professed liar, and his revised testimony provides evidence of Trump's abuse of power. Trump's defense team will be free to attempt to discredit Sondland just as with any other witness.
@Dubious Someone who says one thing the first time he testifies and reverses it the second time is not a self-professed liar? What, then, do you call that?
"Upon further review, the call on the field has been overturned. The President's foot was out of bounds when he came down with the ball, therefor there was a quid pro quo."
Sondland has obviously been watching a little pro football, and doing some light reading of certain foreign service officials who aren't Trump's lap dogs.
5
It's truly amazing to watch how readily people of some stature are willing to abase themselves in service to Donald Trump.
They're like the pod people in the Invasion of The Body Snatchers.
10
Does Trump even know what "Quid Pro Quo" means? It's just a"transactional" way businessmen, like Trump, do business. Obviously being a businessman is not an adequate prerequisite for becoming POTUS. So Sad!!!
4
@RLW He doesn't know. In one of his rants he called it a "quo pro quo", and probably thinks it's a Status Quo tribute band.
1
Of course he "revises testimony." He was looking at a prison term.
8
Oops. I lied. I'm about to get caught! I better change my time...
5
Under Trump and his cohort US has become a laughing stock.
6
Ambassador Sondland saw the bus coming.
10
Why are Americans continuing to pay for the lavish lifestyle of an admitted perjurer? Is there no way to recall him?
4
How many other Trump apologists will start to regain memories they had somehow forgotten until they realize that Trump is a loser and will drag them down along with him like a drowning man who can't swim. Why is it that everyone who associates with Donald J. Trump terminates his association with the self-serving narcissist with his reputation considerably tarnished for having been an associate of Trump?
8
Kevin McCarthy, Mark Meadows, and Jim Jordan are all fine with Trump's attempt to use a foreign government to alter the election landscape. They think it's fine that Giuliani is actively and aggressively engaged in shadow diplomacy. They're good with it. Lindsay Graham is good with it, too, honorable patriot that he is.
They all think it's fine that Mulvaney and all the others simply ignore the summons and subpoenas to come before congressional committees. It's cool that Kelly Anne blatantly lies on TV -- that's ok with them.
And they appreciate Stephanie Grisham's continued pit bull / simple-minded tactics with the press. All of that is ok, too. Honesty and nuance have no place in contemporary politics!
What Constitution?
Seriously, none of these people are stupid. What are they getting out of this? Is it really just partisan blindness, or is there more?
143
@Ted Olson Uh, there is the truth.
1
@Ted Olson they want to keep their jobs. They like "being somebody" and they have seen what happens to Republicans who oppose Trump (see, eg. ex-Senator Bob Corker).
9
@Ted Olson - An excellent question. I share your suspicions. And which would surprise us more, to learn that Graham, Jordan and many of the rest act from genuine conviction (or even team loyalty), or that they act for personal interest (direct personal gain or perhaps suppressing kompromat)?
The more out of character is the first, the more likely is the second.
15
"Updates."
LOL. That's like all those Trump officials that have had to amend their sworn statements and documents regarding Russian contacts, again and again. Or Mulvaney "amending" his stance on Ukraine quid pro quo like, what, seventeen times?
"Oh man, stuff's coming out blowing my cover and I could be liable for perjury. I gotta tweak what I said and cross my fingers."
Interesting how few Trump associates remain "loyal" when their own interests are in danger and being Presidentially pardoned would be a Pyrrhic victory at best. I don't think any would actually take a bullet for him - even the Secret Service might think twice! And for the last few weeks, there is something in Pompeo's eyes that makes me think he's regretting the path he chose, via Trump, towards his own Presidential aspirations. Seeing how he has abused his State Department, and toadied up to "leaders" like MBS and Putin, and now this "insidious" stuff with Ukraine, makes me want to puke at the thought of him sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office.
Who wrote that book "Everything Trump Touches Dies"?
I don't have to read it. Anyone really paying attention the last few decades has seen it in action. Even his successful "Apprentice" franchise would now be dead on arrival. If he tried to start it up again after leaving office. If he didn't finally get INDICTED, and convicted, before trying.
Lock Him Up.
7
To put it briefly Sondland lied.
5
Russo-Republican pretzel logic at its finest:
“We can’t believe Sondland now because he lied the first time.”
But —
“We totally believe Trump despite his documented 13,000 lies.” *
*Source: The Washington Post as of Friday, November 1, 2019
8
He forgot?
5
Sondland clearly committed perjury. LOCK HIM UP!!!
(And investigate how both his kids got into Duke after a donation from his family foundation.)
9
“I don’t think it’s a big deal” because you have no clue re the investigation.
2
Funny, I guess this arrogant, vulture capitalist doesn't want to go to jail. Imagine that.
7
In today's episode, Ambassador Sondland retroactively threw himself on the mercy of the House committee on the grounds that he is stupid.
3
I remember the line of relevant and concise questions that Representative Ocasio-Cortez respectfully directed at Michael Cohen, questions that helped build a case against him and helped direct links to other associates who might have information. I hope this is what's going on behind those closed doors because if the Senate does not vote to remove Trump from office, he will ultimately be tried in the court of voter public opinion and we'll need pertinent testimony from witnesses who were asked the questions that mattered. And to many of us, it was crystal clear that Sondland's initial testimony was a failed attempt at C.Y.A.
It is strange though, that some witnesses have refused to appear; you'd think that with what's at stake they'd officially want to set the record straight and not hide behind all the 'the process is a sham' and 'witch hunt' rhetoric. But in the end maybe it's better this way, otherwise we'd have loads of testimony from our own public servants who believe that grandstanding and showmanship is more important than telling the truth.
3
"The most predictable aspect of Trump is unpredictability. I think it’s dangerous, very dangerous," ---Noam Chomsky
So, here we go! Trump's will prove to be the most resilient president ever, and that is largely a result of his unpredictable approach to everything he does. He's got a cult-like following, including elected Republicans, and the support has reached a level that may push the U.S.A. towards a Russian model of leadership. Trump may become our Putin.
26
@Edward Snowden
What do you mean “may”?
2
Will this change any Republican Senate votes? Probably not. The senate republicans will set a new bar for politics: that it is OK for a candidate to solicit foreign interference in our elections and help the candidate disparage their opponents and win. The Mueller investigation has already given trump a pass on Russian interference, thanks Mr. Mueller for your patriotism. We can look forward to the new paradigm beginning with the 2020 election. Democrats will need to start the process to target the nation(s) that will improve their chances of winning. I like China, Venezuela, all of Europe, India and yes, Israel. They need to start now or risk loosing the White House, Senate and Supreme Court.
8
So only now it appears that we do, in fact, have a "quo", i.e. something expected in return for the "quid" of releasing aid money. So the question now is, is this quo - purported to be just an "anticorruption statement" - unreasonable to the point of an impeachable offense? IMO, an inquiry is only now appropriate and should examine the nature of this "anticorruption statement". This will surely happen now to the delight of media advertisement sales departments.
1
This new evidence is hardly earth-shaking without statements that Mr. Sondland was directed by Trump to deliver the quid pro quo message.
3
Do you think Sondland thought of this and took action on this idea all by himself?
4
@Matt Byrne Why was Sondland meddling in Ukraine at all? Sondland is ambassador the EU and the the Ukraine is not in the EU. Is his geography as bad as his memory?
1
Please stop calling what Trump did quid pro quo.
Quid pro quo, something for something is a voluntary trade between two parties and in this case there was nothing voluntary about what the President of Ukraine was supposed to do in exchange for the assistance to defend his country against Russia.
On the contrary, he was being forced to act under threat of not providing the assistance. So what Trump did was extortion, not quid pro quo.
32
@Leon
I try this again...
Extortion: "The practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats."
Your definition does include both words "force" and threat", but it doesn't really cut it. At this point, there were no force or threats applied here. Your definition seems a little contrived to me.
1
It can also be considered bribery, an explicitly impeachable offence.
1
@Leon
No. It's "the practice of obtaining something through force or threats". Your definition does include both "force" and "threat" in it... but it doesn't do the job. There needs to be either force or a threat applied for extortion - and I, at least, don't see it here at this point.
I am not sure that I believe Sondland's refreshed memory under oath is fully credible, however much people want to believe him. The man has no prior political experience and no apparent moral compass. Testimony from many others is sufficient. Sondland may find that Barr is not his new best friend.
6
@Julia: Actually it is very simple. The president asked persons in a foreign country to make false statements and do an investigation of a competing candidate for the president’s election benefit. He requested, in a fashion blackmailed by withholding critical funds, a foreign country to interfere in our election. That IS a big deal.
27
@Mark
No, it’s not that simple
The question is whether Trump threatened Ukraine with holding back that money in return for investigating the Bidens.
2 issues with that.
One - the Ukranians, at the time, had no idea the money was being held back. They have all, including Zelensky, already said so in public.
Two - the allegation presupposes there was no reason to allege the Bidens were engaged in pay for play corruption. There was. This story was all over the place. Even the NYTimes reported on this. Biden Threatened to hold back 1 billion in exchange for getting that prosecutor fired who was investigating his sons company - a position which he was totally unqualified to work for and was being paid 83k per month for a no show job.
So now the question is - the POTUS is not even allowed to ask about this?
4
Except you're wrong on all counts.
Biden requested a Ukrainian AG be removed who was NOT investigating potential issues with Burisma (he was generally and unanimously seen as a corrupt and "lazy" AG, go re-read those articles). If you're NOT being investigated by someone, you don't press for firing him to make things better for you, there is not a better situation to be in, so explain that one to me? Oh, maybe Biden was doing the right thing. To your other ridiculous point, it's perfectly fine for the US to withhold aid if it's in the US's interest and foreign policy goals. Trump withheld aid to extort for personal gain, nothing to do with US foreign policy. He even tried putting it all together with shadow operatives (Guilianni and his henchmen who have been arrested).
Also, as reported everywhere, Ukraine DID know about the aid being held back as early as August 1st (and maybe sooner).
All of your arguments are disingenuous and misleading. Shame on you.
4
@NYCSurgical
Please cite one respected journalistic source that shows that the prosecutor who Biden pressured to have fired (along with most of Europe) was investigating Hunter Biden’s company Burisma.
I’m not saying it isn’t possibly true. But if you don’t equally accept based on their track record of sleaze that the Trump gang (inclusive of Manafort, Stone, Giuliani, etc) made that whole riff up then you obviously don’t know what you are dealing with and what type of lessons Trump learned from Roy Cohn, among others.
3
It doesn't matter who admits to what. Senate Republicans will never vote to convict Trump, let alone vote to remove him from office. All this investigation and testimony amounts to nothing. The Republican senate is absolutely powerless to act on their own without direction from him. The same is true of the Supreme Court, which is poised to allow Trump complete immunity, and grant him untouchable, absolute power. I'm almost 70 and I can't remember a time when a president had such a hold on a national political party. It's extraordinary, and frightening. It makes me wonder just how far Republicans will be willing to go during a second Trump term. Right now, and with the Supreme Court also held in thrall, it looks like they will go very far indeed.
13
@Ms. Pea: The oaths these fakes took on Bibles are worthless. They actually believe God elected Trump president with the Electoral College.
3
@ Ms Pea
That is what is so frightening. And trump supporters do not see the slippery slope this lawless president places them on. Monday at a rally trump sounded like a dictator, saying maybe he would be president for 21 years. The crowd cheered.
This is a lawless rogue president. He is a threat to our democracy. He us a threat to our national security.
3
This whole situation has pulled back the curtain one side of our government that have exposed themselves as "average" employees blindly following the CEO when in fact they should all be independent thinkers and the best and brightest we have to offer.
6
And what if his political rivals are corrupt? Was the President not supposed to provide clarity as to his stance on the Ukrainian corruption? Should he give them the aid if that money goes into the pockets of corrupt politicians, like the Bidens? Furthermore, how come the person who actually was monitoring the call the President was making, and who conveyed that conversation (or his odd view of it) to someone who was not there, how come he is not immediately put on trail? That is a crime. People have gone to jail for it. Recently.
4
@Len
No, listening to trump’s calls is not a crime. Trump knows his calls are listened to by our agencies we pay to keep our executive and legislative branches in line with the laws of our country.
10
@Len-- There is not and never has been any evidence of corruption on the part of the Bidens. If you have such evidence, you should present it to the nearest office of the FBI.
14
@Homer --Agree. Everything the president does is monitored by someone. He is constantly followed by a photographer and his conversations are all listened to and recorded. (Except Trump's conversations with Putin, that is, which he doesn't want made public, for obvious reasons.)
7
The presidency has already been besmirched, degraded and discredited thanks to Trump's behavior, lies and abuse of power.
The Republicans in the House have already disgraced themselves with their blind adherence to an incompetent, self-serving and self-obsessed minority leader.
If Republicans want to complete a trifecta of dishonor and irresponsibility, they should go ahead and set up a show hearing over something that has nothing to do with the case.
We can assume that Hunter Biden got his position on the board on the perceived advantage that the company would have because of his connections, unfortunately this is a game that is played all over the world and in no place with more frequency than in the US.
If there is any doubt, consider the huge fees that ex-legislators, now lobbyists, demand because of their perceived connections with their ex-colleagues.
All of this does not alter by one iota the fact that Trump tried to use the awarding of a duly voted military aid to derive personal benefit. The appearance of error of others does not cancel the greater error of abuse of power and constitutional infringement of the head of state.
20
Can anyone please elaborate on what if any foreign exchanges of information are not on a "quid pro quo" basis.
Actually politics in it's purist form is "quid pro quo" You vote for me and put me in a cushy spot to draw a hefty pension and I will vote for the bill you support...…
I wish the media would be honest about this because if you replace Hunter Biden with Eric Trump and the tables were turned the story would be front page for years and Trump would be investigated for criminal activity as you have let Joe Biden off the hook for.
This is the rank hypocrisy that has divided this nation.
5
@RS --Voting for a politician because he/she may support causes or policies you favor is not the same as
a US president threatening to withhold much needed aid from a foreign country in exchange for that country's president affecting the outcome of a US election by manufacturing an "investigation" of the president's political opponent.
10
@RS
Nepotism stinks, but it is not illegal or unusual in many corporate board rooms, so get a grip on yourself.
But your comment begs the questions: What about Costume Clothing Lady Ivanka, now White House Advisor? She’s raking in cash all over, most recently obtaining Chinese.
And what about Back Channel Kushner, now White House Advisor. He has been bailed out of his 666 Trump Tower building financial problems by Crown Prince Bone Saw and his ilk. Sordid transactional nepotism. And btw, both Ivanka and Jared finally have top security clearance thanks to their daddy. This is despite neither of them being able to pass the vetting by the intelligence agencies.
1
@RS
Politics at its purest form? Cool. What you don't seem to understand is that Ukraine is not supposed to be a participant in our politics.
3
Drop the "quid pro quo" terminology. Please. It's attempted "extortion" pure and simple.
31
I wonder whether Republicans ever have any compunction, any shame, any regret, about the destructive force they are in US politics. They are devoid of ethics and full of lies.
Surely it must feel embarrassing to constantly be defending the indefensible, coming up with ludicrous defenses and devising obfuscation tactics.
The results from last night's elections are further evidence that the electorate is catching on.
11
@Andrew
Andrew if the Republicans had any decency of self left within their psyche they would not keep backing the criminal in our Oval Office. Certainly embarrassment is not a word these current Republicans care about.
2
Please stop using language like ”collusion” and “quid pro quo.” Call it what it is: bribery and extortion and abuse of office. Words matter.
23
Can we stop with QpQ please, it's called Bribery. Look it up.
21
One of the stipulations for Ukraine receiving aid was that Kiev cooperate with Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation.
- First, the release of military aid to Ukraine was tied to the administration’s demands that Kiev investigate purported corruption by the Democrats during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
- Second, it is believed that a server with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s missing emails on it is in the possession of a company based in Ukraine.
BTW, in the case of Joe Biden we know for certain there was a "quid pro quo"
See: Joe Biden Brags about getting Ukrainian Prosecutor Fired https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXA--dj2-CY
Also, writing in The Hill, John Solomon demonstrates that it is Democrats who first sought to intimidate Ukraine for their own political ends and who continue to do so.
See: "Let's get real: Democrats were first to enlist Ukraine in US elections"
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/462658-lets-get-real-democrats-were-first-to-enlist-ukraine-in-us-elections
1
@ Sam Freeman
Gaslight much?
VP Biden was delivering a United States government policy decision made by the Obama administration. It had bipartisan congressional support. It was done out in the open and not hidden away from public knowledge. It was a policy supported by European Union members, the International Monetary Fund,and the anticorruption organizations inside Ukraine, among others, who were concerned that there was no anticorruption activity being done by that prosecutor. The Ukrainian prosecutor was corrupt and he was not investigating Burisma at the time he was removed. He was removed and replaced by a prosecutor who wanted to investigate corruption in Ukraine.
17
This "revision" to prevent a perjury charge is exactly why Trump and the White House are keeping their people from testifying. The guilt is so obvious here that it is almost palpable. The GOP in the House and Senate are going to twist themselves into pretzels trying to save Trump from his unethical and criminal words and actions over the next year. After last night's election results in Kentucky and Virginia, these Republicans had better start start facing the fact that this impeachment inquiry may not be bad for the Democrats but politically, but, in fact, quite good indeed.
22
Ambassador Soundland, I've noticed my memory is not what is used to be! Sometimes, momentarily, I forget a person's name when I see them for a second time at a party. Please tell us what you've been eating that seems so beneficial for your memory! Broccoli? Brussels Sprouts? Acai Berries? A vitamin of some sort?
8
It was only yesterday, that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reminded everyone that the Senate would not remove the President from office. It sounded like predetermination of a pending case without a case being heard. Perhaps someone of stature could remind Mr. McConnell that withholding approved military aid from a nascent foreign democracy that had Crimea confiscated and eastern Ukraine invaded, that an American Presidential quid personal favor of gaming and interfering in American elections to his advantage goes well beyond red-team blue-team play yard taunts. He might also be reminded that the family of victims of downed Malaysian Flight 17 understand the critical national security issues involved if he doesn't.
10
Simply stated: this key witness got busted for telling lies. His lawyers warned him of the consequences. The Dems gave him a second chance to correct his testimony. Then, he save himself from personal catastrophe. He surely couldn't rely on Trump for safe defense, having seen Trump stabbing all his close allies in the back--Michael Cohen. For sure, Trump would deny even having known the man if Sondland included Trump in his deep trouble. Now Trump is in deeper trouble and Sondland saved himself.
19
@Jack: Sondland spent over $1 million on Trump only to have his reputation burned to ashes.
17
Trump might say he never knew Sondland. :-)
2
@Jack
trump: “I am sure that Mr. Sondland is a good guy. I really don’t know him, though. I’ve never met him. But I’m sure he is likely, probably a good person. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.”
1
If this goes the way it is looking now, there will be a trial in the Senate. However, if you believe that the trial in the Senate will be like any other criminal trial, you are mistaken. It is more likely to be more of a political circus, made up to look like a trial, with the Democrats in the role of the lion tamers and the Republicans coming out of the clown car and throwing buckets of confetti around.
Except, the Republicans will not be doing it for laughs, but rather for as much confusion as they can create so that the Trumpistas can say, “See, Trump didn’t do anything wrong.”. There is no logical defense for Trump’s actions.
Given what I am seeing from the Republicans, I expect they would not vote to remove Trump from office even if they found out that Trump was demanding other countries contribute to his secret account in the Cayman Islands. Trump and the Republicans have changed their defense so many times, while the Democrats seem to just want to get to the bottom of this. Getting there will benefit the Ds politically, but that is mostly because of what the Rs haVe done and continue to do.
I was raised as a Republican, but after watching what Nixon, Reagan, and W did, I will never be one again. Trump, and his sycophants, are just a logical extension of Republican actions since Eisenhower.
12
@AS Pruyn: Watching how Chief Justice John Roberts judges an impeachment trial in the Senate will teach us all about his character.
9
Quid pro quo is a secondary issue -- it's against the law to solicit electoral aid from a foreign country. By asking Ukraine for help against Biden, Trump violated the law.
19
@View from the street
Quid pro quo is actually not illegal. We use it all the time when we offer funding to foreign countries.
Do you really think we give away all these hundreds of millions and not expect anything in return?
The question is whether Trump threatened Ukraine with holding back that money in return for investigating the Bidens.
2 issues with that.
One - the Ukranians, at the time, had no idea the money was being held back.
Two - the allegation presupposes there was no reason to allege the Bidens were engaged in pay for play corruption. There was. This story was all over the place. Even the NYTimes reported on this. Biden Threatened to hold back 1 billion in exchange for getting that prosecutor fired who was investigating his sons company - which he was totally unqualified to work for and was being paid 83k per month for a no show job.
So now the question is - the POTUS is not even allowed to ask about this?
1
@NYCSurgical: We expect presidents to govern for the interests of all, not their own venal selves and entourages of bottom feeders.
10
@NYCSurgical -
It has been reported in a number of places that the Ukrainians did know that the funds were being withheld. And many of them knew why.
Also, Biden was following Obama’s instructions. Perhaps Obama picked him to deliver the message (which was supported by many European countries and the IMF) because his son had dealings in Ukraine. Making Biden the speaker would seem reasonable in that case.
Lastly, corporate boards around the world have relatives of well connected people on them, in part because the company might be able to get a different view and make better decisions. This happens a lot in the business world.
And, yes, if there were any substantiated claims, it would be proper to ask about it, but not to make the head of a foreign nation announce such an investigation against the son of a political rival in order to get money necessary for their defense against an invasion of their territory. Both claims Trump wanted investigated had been rather substantially debunked.
8
Maybe, for these guys who think they have silver tongues and get out of jail free passes, we need someone who can match Trump languages measure for measure, blast for blast :Judge Judy.
Yikes: Clinton got impeached for a lie. Martha Stewart went to jail for lying to authorities. So why does each in the long line of prevaricators for Trump seem to evade any prosecution?
13
Sooner or later, Truth always climbs to the surface like cream does in milk. Even if you homogenize it, the cream is still there.
Jesus said, “You shall know the Truth, and that truth will set you free!”
Republicans, wouldn’t you rather be FREE???
4
@Eric Cosh
No. They don't know that verse.
1
Mister ambassador suddenly found his memory when the seriousness of being forgetful sunk in........
Now if only a few more of the "forgetful' trump appointees and supporters would find either their memories or their patriotism we, America, might get on with its recovery from this disastrous and continually lying president.....
One note for the Trump supporters at every level -- When the going get tough this president's allegiance is only to himself
AND
He has an unlimited supply of busses to throw the once "faithful" under......In other words, everyone is disposable when it comes to loyalty for Donald J Trump......So continue to play ball with him at the risk of your reputation, your future and your freedom from serious jail time.........
7
"I told Sondland there's no quid pro quo. If there was one, you'll have to ask Rudy about it. I had nothing to with it. I haven't spoken to Rudy in months, he's not even my real lawyer."
9
There was quid. There was pro. There was quo. Was there quid pro quo, though?
Hey, Mr Giuliani, what do you think?
1
“No amount of salacious media-biased headlines, which are clearly designed to influence the narrative, change the fact that the president has done nothing wrong,” Trump's Press Secretary.
"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery [aka a quid pro quo], or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." U. S. Constitution Art I, Sec. 4.
8
@Paul Wortman : and - while a lot of Trump's activities merit a salacious description -- what does she even mean?
Among the really bad stuff, it may be a small annoyance, but the use of word to mean exactly what they want it to mean is a definite aggravation. Would that misuse of the English language by Press Secretaries and other appointees be subject to impeachment....
2
Another Trump buddy caught red handed, lying and covering up for the president’s criminal enterprise.
9
The greatest threat to the United States is not Russia ,China, ISIS , al Queda,..., it is Donald Trump and the Republican party.
15
"in a four-page sworn statement ". A phrase that is entirely missing from all occupants and staff of the White House. Who claim innocence. Just not in "in a four-page sworn statement".
Bizarre, to say the least!
2
It might be interesting to take a look at whether Burisma was mentioned in the House or Senate's deliberations in approving the Ukrainian military aid package. Or did the deliberations focus on how critical the funds were to the survival of the Ukraine nation.
2
‘I want him to do what he ran on.’
Pres. Trump seems clear on the subject matter at hand, "I want him to do what he ran on."...investigate corruption, and to announce it publicly. The two best cases of "possible" corruption Pres. Trump presumed other western countries would be most familiar, at least in his mind, would be the Mueller hoax and the Burisma affair.
While this is useful and informative testimony, it should have been and should remain clear that our government is infiltrated and compromised by multiple agents working at the behest of the common interests of Russia and certain oil interests in the United States. There is a clear and present threat to our national security and one can see how clearly that all roads do lead to Putin and to a mixture of certain domestic oligarchs intentions to undermine the state of our nation, our Consitution, our democracy and our national security.
Why does our national security system simply acknowledge the truth and act to protect our nation immediately?
It's a 10 letter word: Corruption
8
I suppose it’s only a matter of time before Trump claims that he doesn’t know and has never heard of Sondland.
11
No such word as “ fuller”. It’s either full or it ain’t.
The word 'fuller' is a word, and it functions as a comparative adjective. The word full is the base, root word. The suffix, -er, is added to the end.
3
The NYT is not being accurate.
Ambassador Sondland's revision 'merely' states that he thought that a Biden-investigation would be tied to military aid. He did not testify that he was directed(by the President) to tell Ukraine that an investigation must be done in order to receive aid.
Far better if the NYT devoted resources to reporting the history of US and EU meddling in Ukraine. Trying to get Ukraine, a country bordering Russia, into NATO is provactive, isn't it.
2
@PI Man
I think it holds pretty true that the President is sly enough not to issue outright orders: I am ordering you to { offer a bribe, solicit illegal information, payoff the women who might talk). He just makes it quite clear that he expects certain things to be "taken care of" and for anyone subordinate to him to keep all on the down low. This was done as a matter of course in his business, because a lot of people are willing to accept servility as a condition of working for a very wealthy man in a "prestigious" career. A whole lot of his personal wiseguys , no matter what their other achievements, are surprisingly dumb enough to carry out his implied directives, without foreseeing that if THEY get caught, they are the ones with only their own testimony as protection. Generally, nothing on record -and nothing in writing to protect them. Trump has an aversion to staff who write things down.
We even have, from Comey, a description of how he comes on to staff he doesn't know when he wants them to bend to his will. Wheedling, touching, using purposefully vague words with an easy to understand underlying message, for anyone with communication skills, who doesn't require absolutely concrete steps to be spelled out.
As for more information about Ukraine, and really about all of our strange arrangements around the world, definitely. We need more coverage.
And people thought that Al Franken's book "Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" was to be taken in jest.
5
Gordon Sundland has admitted he was part of a conspiracy to extort the Ukrainian government but he does not have the self respect to resign from the ambassadorship he defiled.
8
Sondland might be what passes for “an honest guy” in this administration. The bar was just raised to 1/2 inch off the floor. “Saints be praised!” as Grandma used to say.
5
If the republicans keep saying Trump did nothing wrong then the democrats need to tell China to investigate Trump and his kids and then we’ll negotiate trade. See how the republicans like that. Lol
6
It is easy to forget something so insignificant as a quid pro quo.
1
@Mary Ann
Quid pro quo is actually not illegal. We use it all the time when we offer funding to foreign countries.
Do you really think we give away all these hundreds of millions and not expect anything in return?
The question is whether Trump threatened Ukraine with holding back that money in return for investigating the Bidens.
2 issues with that.
One - the Ukranians, at the time, had no idea the money was being held back.
Two - the allegation presupposes there was no reason to allege the Bidens were engaged in pay for play corruption. There was. This story was all over the place. Even the NYTimes reported on this. Biden Threatened to hold back 1 billion in exchange for getting that prosecutor fired who was investigating his sons company - which he was totally unqualified to work for and was being paid 83k per month for a no show job.
So now the question is - the POTUS is not even allowed to ask about this?
@NYCSurgical, it's hard to understand how you get it so wrong, repeatedly. The quid pro quo that you admit occurred constitutes an abuse of power. That's an impeachable offense -- no crime is needed.
(Is your confusion coming from the fact that Trump's quid pro quo seems like the crime of extortion? That kind of crime, while also an impeachable offense, is not necessary to a showing of impeachable abuse of power.)
@Surgicals
VP Biden was delivering a United States government policy decision made by the Obama administration. It had bipartisan congressional support. It was done out in the open and not hidden away from public knowledge. It was a policy supported by European Union members, the International Monetary Fund,and the anticorruption organizations inside Ukraine, among others, who were concerned that there was no anticorruption activity being done by that prosecutor. The Ukrainian prosecutor was corrupt and he was not investigating Burisma at the time he was removed. He was removed and replaced by a prosecutor who wanted to investigate corruption in Ukraine.
First off, Sondland never indicated where he got the idea there was a quid pro quo in the first place. He never spoke to Trump, and never said who told him that was policy. As a matter of fact, at the mere suggestion of a quid pro quo, it has already been revealed that Trump himself said there is none.
Second, nailing Trump to the cross for asking Zelensky to investigate the Bidens presupposes that there was no indication at all that the Bidens did anything wrong. The son of the former VP of the United States was in a Ukranians company's back pocket, and on their payroll, in the most obvious episode of pay for play corruption in recent memory. REuters condicted their own invesdtigation, and concluded, after naming their Ukrainian govt sources, that Hunter Biden was making 83k per month, not 50k, he never stepped foot in Ukraine, and was hired specifically to ward off investigations. The owner of Burisma was under literally 12 different investigations for corruption and tax fraud, giving Joe Biden ample motive to get that prosecutor fired. We were about to hand over 400 million to this corrupt country. We cant even ask about this obvious corruption by our former VP? And now you want to remove the President for even asking?
2
@SurgicalBiologicals
VP Biden was delivering a United States government policy decision made by the Obama administration. It had bipartisan congressional support. It was done out in the open and not hidden away from public knowledge. It was a policy supported by European Union members, the International Monetary Fund,and the anticorruption organizations inside Ukraine, among others, who were concerned that there was no anticorruption activity being done by that prosecutor. The Ukrainian prosecutor was corrupt and he was not investigating Burisma at the time he was removed. He was removed and replaced by a prosecutor who wanted to investigate corruption in Ukraine.
@ SurgicalBiologicals
Nepotism stinks, but it is not illegal or unusual in many corporate board rooms, so get a grip on yourself.
But your comment begs the questions: What about Costume Clothing Lady Ivanka, now White House Advisor? She’s raking in cash all over, most recently obtaining Chinese.
And what about Back Channel Kushner, now White House Advisor. He has been bailed out of his 666 Trump Tower building financial problems by Crown Prince Bone Saw and his ilk. Sordid transactional nepotism. And btw, both Ivanka and Jared finally have top security clearance thanks to their daddy. This is despite neither of them being able to pass the vetting by the intelligence agencies. Scary.
Looks like He is changing his testimony to save his own skirt. Why was he ever a diplomat?
In all of this drama, my question has been: Where is Rudy?
He seems to have disappeared.
6
Trump wasn’t just asking Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son. Trump was basically asking Ukraine to lie because Ukraine knew there was nothing to investigate but to satisfy Trump they would of had to make something up. The republicans don’t see any wrong doing though. Their hypocrisy is breath taking.
4
Forget Trump, forget republicans in the House and Senate - they already demonstrated many times that there is nothing they will do or accept to remain in power. But what is the ordinary voter afflicted with? No evidence, no crime, not even treason, seems to make the Trump supporters revolt in disgust. There is no chance that we can "keep the republic", the fault is entirely ours.
2
@SM
I think our education system needs to teach Civic classes again. People do not seem to understand the purpose of the checks and balance of our three branches of government, and they seem unfamiliar with the Constitution of the United States.
1
..., ahh, the laws are for the little people while the elite, with unfettered access to lawyers, can lie to Congress and escape unscathed.
Duly noted ...
8
Obviously Sondland committed perjury to protect the president then, at his age, backtracked when he realized Trump is not worth going to prison for especially when he's a billionaire and he's not personally benefiting from a crime. No one would forget making such a contact and what was said especially when he's not directly an ambassador to Ukraine.
6
@Wayne let’s hope it’s not the other way around. The republicans are clearly upto some mischief.. stay tuned. Transcripts show Republican lawmakers were given every opportunity to question him during the closed door queries..
2
In the context of this particular scandal, “Quid Pro Quo” is a euphemism for bribe and a rhetorical gift to Trump. Telling the Ukrainian president that he would receive $400 million in U.S. military aid if he publicly launched a bogus investigation of the Biden family is very nearly a textbook example of a political bribe. If the New York Times and other media outlets would start calling this scandalous behavior by its proper name, I think the American public will be better able to understand the president’s wrongdoing.
8
Plus, the Constitution specifically names bribery as an impeachable offense.
5
Question of the day: why aren’t the investigators focusing on Rudy Giuliani? Is he going to get a free pass because he was once mayor of NYC! Is he above law too? He is not exactly moral ethical, is he, but to republicans and lawmakers that does not matter.
3
This Impeachment Enquiry increasingly looks like the Soviet "Show Trials" where testimony was adjusted to suit the prosecutors' requirements.
The involvement of the Deep State and its public willingness to confront the Democratically elected President of the United States presents additional risks of tainted evidence. (The Deep State has NO ROLE under the American Constitution).
President Trump and many people who are not slaves to the American Corporate Media know that there is a great deal to be investigated about Democrats in Ukraine and Vice President Joe Biden was very active in Ukraine [so was President Obama].
I revile President Trump and all that he stands for and I hope to see him ejected from Office - but not via a Soviet Show Trial. I believe the show trials should be reserved for members of the Deep State currently engaged in Treason.
its just like the show trials, with almost half the investigator from the party of the person being investigated, and no extrajudicial punishments. How do you feel about the investigation on Bill Clinton's undisclosed sex act, and the Starr chamber writing a report of pious pornography? Huh.
2
I know it’s obvious, but if the average person attempted what Trump did, it would be called extortion. After a quick trial and either bankrupted by the attorneys or thrown under the bus by a underpaid public defender, the poor soul would rot in prison.
American justice and healthcare, certainly a bargain for the wealthy.
3
Well, let’s get it over with - better get some Republicans on board to pressure the Senate and Senator Donothing, or it’s going nowhere. Madam Speaker, shouldn’t we be hounding Trump on healthcare, childcare, and the cost of education? The greatest impediment to employment in my state is the lack of childcare. Elizabeth has some excellent ideas on this. Trump doesn’t address it. And how about the guy who got laid off and can’t afford his insulin — Bernie took a bunch across the border to illustrate to all of us how we are being ripped off, right royally, and undermined by those in Congress who accept money from these greedy monsters. Enough! Trump, where are you! What are your plans for your citizens? How about the kids leaving college with mountains of debt? Not all are born with a silver spoon in their mouth! President Trump, do you have any plans?
2
Funny how the consequences of perjury give some witnesses 20-20 recall.
3
A bribe is exactly what we see here. Guiliani and Trump conspired to withhold military aid in return for a public statement or other dirt about Biden and his son. Trump lives on soundbites and knew how destructive a public statement by the Ukraine president would be for Biden in our domestic political race since Trump would repeat it over and over, regardless of its utter lack of any merit.
Trump was going to throw Sondland under the bus as the only perpetrator of the bribe. Glad to see that Sondland woke up about the destructive fraud he works for. The loyalty Trump demands is a one-way street. He fancies himself king with impunity to control the US Treasury to meet his power-grabbing needs who will grind up any person if it suits his needs.
We should all take a long and hard look at the destructive actions Trump takes daily to erode our democracy and global alliances. There is a better path forward and it certainly is not with Trump or his gutless GOP lackeys.
I suggest that those who continue to stand behind this abomination go live in Russia or other country controlled by a despot to experience your future first hand.
2
Really it all makes sense. Of course the worlds most powerful man would not use the mite and resources of the CIA, NSA and FBI or the State Department and need his lawyer to go quietly to the Ukraine to get evidence. How Democrats can’t understand this just bewilders me. I mean, really.
1
@Aaron saxton Um, because what he was doing was illegal and for his personal benefit. That's why he had his "lawyer" go quietly. Think, McFly!
@Aaron Saxton
Well stated. But, on the outside chance a trump supporter reads your comment, would you please add the notation “Sarcasm” to your remarks.
Sondland makes me jealous , wish I’d become an acrobat too
Reminds me of another incident where a candidate threatened to withhold aid if an investigation wasn’t thwarted.
@rebecca1048
Which one? It can’t be the one where Biden wasn’t a candidate and threatened to withhold aid because the prosecutor wasn’t investigating anything. So please tell us what you’re referring to. Thanks.
1
@rebecca1048
Which one? It can’t be the one where Biden wasn’t a candidate and threatened to withhold aid because the prosecutor wasn’t investigating anything. So please tell us what you’re referring to. Thanks.
2
I use a mental exercise with things like this: replace the names of the accused and accusers and see if you still have the same perspective on the situation. So, for instance, replace Trump with Clinton and Adam Schiff with Devin Nunes. Hypothetically, if a president Hillary Clinton did what Trump did would we all be asking for impeachment or in defensive mode? If I am completely honest, I would be in defensive mode because I would assume she would be “rooting” out corruption by leveraging influence. In this light I suppose it means motive is the ultimate guideline. They must prove Trump’s motive was really to get dirt on political rival rather than rooting out corruption.
@Limegreenjeans - Trump and his cabinets are the epitome for corruption. Anyone with an IQ above room temperature knows he wasn't trying to root out corruption in Ukraine.
Trump has the entire U.S. government at his disposal. If what he was doing was right and legal he wouldn't be using Rudy, Igor et al for the job and he wouldn't be lying about it and trying to hide it.
8
@Limegreenjeans
The US President is the the President of the United States of America, not the world. And not Ukraine. He has no standing to investigate anything in Ukraine. Or anywhere else but the US. And why if he was so concerned about corruption ask that all US citizen with positions abroad be investigated? Why not his own children? Why was he concerned only with the corruptions of his chief political rival and asked for an investigation on him by name?
The mental exercise is the usual mental contortions one has to go through when seeing the emperor's magnificent new outfit.
5
@limegreenjeans
Hillary would not have done that. If she did she would be impeached. I voted for her.
2
I understand Democrats are trying to keep this moving but this is a diplomat clearly lying to Congress, either before or now and likely still not being forthcoming. Will there be any repercussions for that or is this part of the new normal?
13
A simple question still not getting enough attention for me:
Why did Donald Trump need the Ukraine to investigate Biden? Whatever Biden "did" for the benefit of his son in Ukraine or China or elsewhere could be easily investigated by the Department of Justice or the FBI. That is so because it is favors that Mr. Biden would grant to those countries or its citizens that would be the corrupt wrong doing, and those could easily be investigated and brought to light by the Justice Department or the FBI.
I think the answer is likely that such investigations have taken place and quickly found no evidence to support a claim of corruption, leaving Trump with only the option of asking (and then extorting) a dependent foreign nation to start a groundless investigation.
And that is an abuse of power: using the weight of the office of the Presidency to cause foreign nations to pursue groundless investigations into political rivals that the Justice Department could not and would not pursue domestically because of constitutional and legal limits (e.g., lack of any probable cause), is essentially and end run of such constitutional and legal protections.
11
@T Mo Trump did doesn't want a serious investigation into the Bidens. The DOJ may just find that there's nothing there. He just wants Ukraine to officially state that they are investigating the Bidens and thus give him cover to peddle misinformation to his base continuously.
BTW, remember in 2016, when Trump stated Hillary could not do her job as president because she will spend her whole term defending against investigations?
Guess what....
3
He also ragged on Obama for (well, everything actually) all his golfing trips. I think that puts the whole trump thing in perspective. And whining about nepotism with trump’s family and religious advisor (failing, seriously failing) installed in the WH is another one of those projection things at which trump is so marvelous. there will be a new term in politics: “trump projection”—attributing one’s own faults on opponents.
2
Why don’t Democrats fund the moving of volunteers into the few states whose electoral votes handed the presidency to DJT? Those states only require residency of 30 days prior to an election. The cost to temporarily move these 100,000 or so volunteers would be manageable. The GOP has stolen SCOTUS seats, gerrymandered districts, and hijacked the Senate. Democrats need to get on a level playing field.
5
@JM
I’d take it a step further. Why do Democrats tend to cluster in urban areas and shun rural, thus tilting the vote to Republicans? IMO its because Democrats tend to believe they are under siege from the countryside. Its a self fulfilling prophecy.
Democrats are also more likely to be college educated and identify with that. As a result they often hold the mistaken belief that rural America is a cultural wasteland. Culture is deep and rich anywhere there are people. Democrats are simply suffering from a lack of openness. Our human bodies adapt to where we live. Rural America is full of vibrancy once one gets over stereotypes.
One of my favorite quotes from the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" seems to fit this moment exactly. The King of Jerusalem speaking with the newly arrived Balian the hero.
"You see, none of us chose our end really. A king may move a man, a father may claim a son. But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thus" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that."
14
We need to stop using the term quid pro quo when referring to this affair. Quid pro quo is not a legal term, and much like the term collusion, it is being used y Republicans to muddy the waters. Bribery is listed as an impeachable offense, and Trump's actions in this regard, are bribery. He is also accepting a gift from a foreign country, which is also defined in the Constitution as a prohibited activity. Finally, it is an abuse of office, which is also an impeachable offense, for Trump to solicit the aid of a foreign nation to investigate a US national, whether that individual is a presidential opponent or not. In this case Joe Biden is an opponent of Donald Trump, which makes the abuse of office by Trump even more egregious.
34
@Kjensen
Youre presupposing the Bidens did nothing wrong. The son of the former VP of the US was in the Ukraines largest energy companys back pocket, and on their payroll. And when that company was being investigated, Joe Biden strong armed them into firing the prosecutor investigating his sons company, by threatening to hold back 1 billion.
Reuters did their own investigation, concluding Hunter was making 83k per month, not 50k, and he never once stepped foot into Ukraine.
So, we cant even ask about such obvious corruption?
And now you think our President should be removed for even asking?
@SurgicalBiologics
The Bidens were investigated three years ago, and it was determined that there was no wrongdoing. Obsessive regurgitation of a disproven conspiracy theory does not make it true.
3
Of course now all republicans will say quit pro quo does not matter, all past administrations have done it and trump just exposed what has been going on forever. But the state department employees Know what really went on, it’s up to each one of them to stand up and speak up. Only then voters all over the country will be convinced that we can’t let trump (and Rudy Giuliani) get away with crookedness inside outside, they can’t operate like mob bosses.
10
If moving the goalposts were a sport, the Republicans would be the world's undisputed champions.
24
In court his lawyers claim the Don is free to shoot anyone he wants without fear of prosecution. He alone is permitted to break any law, everyone else must obey all laws. So why is he covering up his crimes? Why lie about the glaringly obvious and treasonous quid pro quo done to serve Putin? Why leave our Kurdish allies to be slaughtered? Don says he’s free to do whatever he wants but his actions demonstrate he doesn’t believe himself!
20
Lets not lose sight of the objective folks.
This impeachment will only bear fruit for the Democrats if it gets the support of 60% or more of the voters. If it does then it will hurt Trump otherwise it may hurt the impeachers.
At issue is whether the quid pro quo quod erat demonstrantum :) raises to the level necessary to upset the moral compass of the remaining 8% of the folks so that a 60% threshold is reached.
I fear that for those 8%, "Ukraine" is too far, too foreign to trigger the conviction that the president act is akin to selling America national security interests to Putin and his merry men.
Because treachery as a message will upset the apple cart but moral straying is less likely to roil these folks that are already ethically compromised as evidenced by their silent acquiescence to the the presence of M. Trump in the WH.
So unless that issue is framed in a manner that exposes the president as Russian mole, all the hubbub will only succeed in convincing the already convinced of the need to remove DJT from office. Nothing more.
Nancy Pelosi said it best: With him all roads lead to Putin . Yet that gem of a quote has not been exploited to its fullest in spite of the evidence supporting it over the past three years starting with the Helsinki Kow Tow and ending last month with the Kurd Sacrifice.
Take a look at the first NY pick in these comments, replies and recommendations to it that i think support my point. Not a big deal.Not to Julia and friends
7
“A little over a month ago, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said anyone looking for evidence of a quid pro quo involving US military aid to Ukraine and a request from the president for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden would be "disappointed." ”
Not disappointed
43
@Lonnie the one Most disappointed is Senator John McCain who (May he be at peace) is tossing in his grave because his once close friend Lindsay Graham has clearly lost his mind!
1
First they wanted evidence. Now that we have evidence, Republicans are essentially saying 'whatever, no big deal'.
23
@tim
I say dissolve the GOP
No big deal
They have no principles
They have no policy
They sow discord
They appear to exist without any meritorious claims
Who needs them?
America can do far better
We have in the past
We will in the future
Good riddance to bad rubbish
16
FOX news has refused to cover this story, they always lie for Trump, but in this case the President has been caught red handed, and their only alternative is to ignore the story, like it never happened.
45
@Lonnie Kind of like the Russians and Chinese control their state media. In this case, this is a way to control those that refuse to get their news anywhere else.
The pile on here is breathtaking. But the truth is simple. The EU and the US were reluctant to send aid to the Ukraine until the corruption in that country was brought under control. Recall that prior to being elected President of Ukraine, Selensky had been a popular actor in Ukraine with a role on TV as a brave politician who cleaned up the corruption in the Ukraine! Now Selensky, an ex-actor with ZERO experience is President of a country that sits between Europe and Russia, and Putin has armored divisions lined up on the border.. Of course Trump should hold up the money and weapons until he is satisfied that Selensky is not corrupt, incompetent, etc. Your hatred for Trump is clouding your judgement as it has for the last three years.
5
@DB
You are correct - the Truth is simple: Trump and his cohorts where withholding aid to Ukraine as a bribe to smear candidate Biden in the run-up to the 2020 election. Bribery - especially in the case of election interference - is called out in the Constitution as an impeachable offense.
Facts - not judgements, as you assert: stated and corroborated by multiple witnesses.
Methinks it is your judgement that is clouded.
35
@DB
Is this the Fox version? Sorry but Trump was fine with the corruption in Ukraine- his campaign manager Paul Manafort helped the corrupt former president get elected.
Trump wanted to make sure the new guy was open to Donald’s political plan to corrupt a US election in exchange for arms.
Trump is corrupt is the shorter version.
@DB The EU did send air to the Ukraine. So did the US Congress. The transcript is clear and so is the testimony. Selensky had to publicly announce an investigation into the Bindes. Very clear.
1
Just waiting for the Trump tweet saying he never heard of Sondland... Doesn't know who he is... He's a failure as an ambassador.
43
2668 comments. People are talking. Good.
20
@Pat we are a very chatty group. But then this is also an echo chamber of sorts.
1
I’m just waiting for McConnel saying that the country is too divided for there to be held a proper impeachment trial
14
He doesn’t have to bother: just call for a vote immediately regarding whether or not to convict. All the good Republican toadies can vote “no,” and it’s over.
6
Nouveaux riche buys ambassadorship for a cool million in the Trump administration. 2 years later, he's might be facing perjury, bribery and extortion charges and on Trump's nevertrumper list. So, he's getting plenty of death threats too.
Mr. Sondland is now infamous. He said "I don't have a reputation to salvage", Ha, oh yes you do...a bad one.
Salvage away, my friend, salvage away.
22
Black and white is clarity.
The dactylic daintiness of Mr Sondland delicately attempts to erase his scrawl made under oath before God and America.
Yes he did assist to slime bomb Ms Clinton and Mr Biden.
Mr Sonland donated sums to Mr Trump as is his right.
Ambassador to the EU was chosen to represent the US across Europe.
The Ambassador has one stop access to all US European diplomats.
He lied under oath.
To lie under oath is most serious for Catholics.
The oath was not sworn by Catholics because it meant swearing allegiance to some historic despot. transient.
Vows are made assuming serious commitment to relationships such as marriage.
A vow is made from the heart and witnessed by God alone if serious.
Oaths without vows are empty.
One may ask as a Catholic is Mr Sonland or Mr Trump available and free of other connections mature enough to commit in perpetuity by choice to America, the nation for perpetuity in sickness and health.
I am Catholic and I doubt their cred.
Trump v Pope.
Francis sends letter concerning global environmental urgency.
Donald withdraws US from Paris Treaty.
I back the Pope.
3
Sondland: No, I didn't steal a shirt at Macy's. Yes, I did steal a shirt at Macy's. And the Democrats are relying on this guy?
4
@Al
They have more than enough without him, and he has finally admitted, yeah, the other evidence is the truth. That’s all you got?
1
Trump's goose is cooked. This is the smoking gun. Now we need a few more memories jogged. Others will flip now. Maybe Giuliani. Trump will throw him under the bus in a second.
8
Why is there so much lies if this was such a perfect call?
17
The guy who muttered “I don’t have a reputation” sure is trying to salvage it now.
6
First, he lied, then told the truth. If he was a real republican, like lindsy graham or trump, he would have lied again.
16
When you're working in a position that gives Trump any authority over you, cooperating with him, and sometimes just being in that job, is the same as entering a pact with the devil. Unless you resign when you first notice the horns, you're going to either be fired or crossing over to the "other side" and exposing yourself to investigation, prosecution, and possibly prison. Too bad so many intelligent Americans with government experience don't recognize that before they commit.
5
Bribery - previously know as quid pro quo - is specifically called out in the Constitution as an impeachable offense, and Sondland specifically called out Trump's behavior as bribery.
What's not to impeach?
13
Impeachment is the only answer. The Democrats have lost the election. The only thing left is impeachment. The NYT has to try harder. They have to do more front page articles about destroying Trump. This all that matters. Only articles that reference impeachment from the front page to the book review to style to sports. Everything is about impeachment. Please nothing about employment, the stock market, the economy.
2
I think an investigation of the quid pro quo corruption, if any, in Ukraine in 2016 is important to understanding the election interference and involvement of the Ukraine in the 2016 elections, on HRC’s behalf, of course. I guess the Washington elites are so comfortable with feathering their nests that the obvious eye-brow raising activities of the Vice President’s son just doesn’t register with them.
2
My guess is that Mr. Sondland was reminded of the penalty for perjury.
21
Quid pro quo is not required for impeachment. The fact that Trump was indeed guilty of this specific behavior, officially agitating for a foreign government to investigate causing problems for a domestic political rival, is icing on the entire cake of impeach-ability. The Republicans will continue to say there was no crime. There was crime, and more than just this one, including their own collusion to obstruct justice. But impeachment doesn't need "crime". To extrapolate Trump's behavior to every American politician would create political absurdity and compromise in ways Kafkaesque.
5
should have charged him with perjury and gotten more information from him
6
"Go big or go home" Gordo. I guess he didn't want to go to the big house, he'd rather go home. Convenient how he's suddenly refreshed his recollection. It'll be interesting to see how many other Trump rats jump ship.
9
So I guess this means that Lindsay Graham was mistaken? That Rand Paul is wrong? That Mark Meadows doesn't know what he's talking about? That Devin Nunes is lying? Oh, my!
13
I think I just heard the other shoe drop!
5
Why do these Trump Republicans have such a difficult time with the truth?
30
@Jim Steinberg
@and why do they have such a difficult time keeping their lies straight.
8
50% of Americans support the impeachment inquiry yet not one republican takes our concerns seriously.
Everyone keeps thinking a smoking gun will make a difference but tomorrow no republicans will stand up in the wake of Mr. Sondland's refreshed memory and say this is not right.
Instead they will probably trash this man in the media over and over again using some nasty nickname trump proclaims for him in a tweet.
30
I think "quid pro quo" is a Republican euphemism. What is meant is "extortion" or "blackmail."
Trump tried to extort and blackmail Ukraine by exploiting their most vulnerable need by withholding funds he was required to deliver to them to allow them to defend themselves while the country was under attack.
25
Sondland suddenly “refreshed” himself after reading others testimony.
This is exactly why we need to have closed door deposition first. If not, then they can all read from Trump’s scripts.
25
Trump was attempting leverage taxpayer dollars - the toil and assets of every tax paying American, including the probable majority who do not support him - for personal political purposes.
We all are mere playthings for Trump and Republicans to manipulate. They are now attacking citizenship itself.
20
Trump wrote and sent a script which was texted to the President of Ukraine stating what should be said about investigating Joe Biden and his son. If the President of Ukraine (Zelensky) read it in public, the implication was, his military aid would be released by the U.S. and would flow to Ukraine. You don't think there's anything wrong about that?
20
Europe is waiting for the Aquarium Effect...
There's bound to be many more witnesses who suddenly had their memory refreshed when the crack in the glass spreads,
isn't there ?
Could the readers here please enlighten me with some basic
information about the US political system?
If I remember correctly, a while ago The Unprecented (or was it one of his staff?) said sth like:
" I/he could shoot someone in bright daylight on Main Street and could not be prosecuted."
Rhetorical as this question is (for now)… What would happen if exactly that…. happended ?
Would there have to be an impeachment procedure first to
'unprecedent' him ? And would it only THEN be possible to charge him in court for murder/manslaughter ?
If that is so - this is a backdoor to temporary blatant dictatorship. Am I being democratically naive ?
The only option then would be to charge the culprit after his term of office has ended as he then is no longer protected by the majority of his political sycophants ?
And what about those who are not protected by 'an office' ?
Mr. Giuliana e.g.... Could he not, just as Mr. Cohen be convinced to speak up ?
7
@juf: I'm half Dutch and I think I live in a nuthouse.
This needs to be properly framed for the public, ASAP.
So stop referring to this conspiracy as a "quid pro quo". Start calling it what is was: bribery and/or extortion, and a conspiracy to commit that.
27
Wait wait - I just remembered what I forgot - I am pulling a reverse SGT Schultz.
5
I wouldn’t get too excited. Personally, I am maintaining low expectations. I never thought this guy would ever get elected in the first place.
4
The doors to the exit routes are closing faster than Trump's army of defenders can run. Not fact, not slander, not precedent, not dirty dealing have unshackled Donald Trump from his nightmare scenario. The only remaining viable defense would appear to be parsing his garbled syntax. Trump now needs a lawyer with a Master's in English, Latin, Constitutional, Civil and Criminal Law, Psychiatry, Psychology, Speech Pathology and Political Science...and Rudy Giuliani it ain't.
10
No LNS or Colbert can compete with this comedy show going on in Washington. When will even the most back woods american realize there is no functioning government except for people wearing red ties striving for eight figure bank accounts.
13
When are those who do not comply with the committee’s request to testify going to be held accountable?
17
It's important to understand the underlying principle. When we elect someone president we give that individual a lot of power. If he can use that power to covertly rig the next election then we can kiss our Constitutional Republic goodbye.
The Founders were very concerned about this danger. The Articles of Confederation which preceded our Constitution did not feature a strong executive. This came to be seen as a problem, especially in our dealings with what were then much more powerful nations like England and France.
So they realized that we needed a more powerful executive but how to keep him from pulling a Julius Caesar? The answer was separation of powers and giving Congress the power of impeachment.
Trump is now claiming that these don't apply to him. He refuses to accept Congressional oversight or that impeachment is a valid, Constitutional act.
He won't co-operate because he doesn't think it's fair. We do not allow the accused to proclaim himself innocent and bring the proceedings to an end. I mean really, how crazed does one have to be to think it works like that?
26
It’s an extension of the Bart Simpson defence. I didn’t do it, nobody saw me do it, you can’t prove anything, it’s not a big deal.
9
“Reversed himself”?
Isn’t that perjury? But this Trump sycophant donor toady, Sondland, is small potatoes.
It appears that Trump’s whole life is one enormous perjury.
And there are many of us who can’t wait to see that simpleton cheesy grin wiped off Trump’s face, as he faces impeachment and removal from office.
50
Execution rather than mere removal from office now seems to be justified.
9
The REAL CULPRITS here are McConnell Graham Barr leading the rest of the GoP. I hope that Roberts can keep the SCOTUS ‘clean’.
34
Where there's fire, there's fire.
32
The thing that amazes me the most about these GOP congressman blindly defending and lying for trump is that it's obviously a one way street. So WHY do they do it?
29
Impeachment demanded by the US Cinstitution:
1) Extortion of a foreign leader for personal or political gain.
2) Solicitation of a foreign governments involvement in a US election.
3) Solicitation of a foreign governments investigation of a political opponent that grossly violates the civil liberties of a US person.
24
In case the GOP hasn't put 2 and 2 together: we are taking names.
15
I cannot wait for the Finale of this awful reality show. Will he, or won't he, destroy the world because he can? Serious. If this is not enough for "removal," WHAT IS?
35
President Trump demanded a public announcement of Biden and CrowdStrike investigations on (what he ironically calls Fake News) CNN. Damage done; regardless of whether any facts "made up or not" down the road.
5
I haven’t been this ecstatic in almost exactly three years!
I have been spiraling into a deeper depression with each passing Trump disaster.
I’ve been a faithful reader of Foreign Policy magazine for nearly 50 years since my tour in the 44th Medical Battalion in Vietnam. I’m proud to know that two of my classmates from a small Ohio prep school were ambassadors to Asian countries.
I went to college and grad school in Utah and saw one of the state’s best governors be named ambassador to Singapore then to Bejing by Obama even though Jon Huntsman Jr is Republican. It was disconcerting to see Trump name him to Russia---which made no sense as Huntsman was fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese...but he resigned last month from the complicated mess of Russia and Putin.
The state department was hollowed out by this POTUS then hit with a death blow by naming an oil executive Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Tillerson hated his job and would often only have one aide with him as he flew to our most important allies. Ambassador slots went empty along with deputy positions.When US Naval ships collided with foreign ships in the Sea of Japan resulting in horrible casualties we didn’t even have a Japanese ambassador...and this after the success of Caroline Kennedy named by Obama 2013-2017.
No S. Korean!
Instead Trump felt that he didn’t need a state department...that his “gut” told him how to act by siding with “strong man” autocracies and bashing our allies.
Great day for state!
42
Lindsey Graham announced he will no longer read transcripts from the impeachment investigation. No doubt he is frustrated with being repeatedly contradicted by evidence. So stick your head in the ground, Mr. Graham. It is much easier than facing reality.
58
The removal aspect rests entirely on the early polling of the 2020 Senate races. If Mitch McConnell thinks for one moment that he will lose the majority, he will flip on Trump in a heartbeat and take 20 Republican Senators with him. Trump is small potatoes to Mitch. McConnell is playing a long game.
26
When forces of deceit and bad faith cling to power by all means and against all evidence it cannot end well. The crash will reverberate across the world.
5
What with all the lying liars abandoning the White House like rats scurrying off a sinking ship and all, smells like time's just about up for the failing Trump "presidency". Goodbye and good riddance.
25
Just checked the Fox "news" website. Not a single article mentioning this.
54
@Avi So right! That is incredible! Lets just ignore what we don't like. Even Breitbart noticeably mentions it with an article that actually 'sounds' educated even as it concludes that quid pro quo is OK.
3
So now the Russo-Republican defense is that Sondland should not be believed because he lied the first time.
As opposed to Trump who never ever lies.
36
The entire Republican party is engaged in a quid pro quo: they will offer their unflagging support for their beloved leader, President Donald J. Trump, and, he, in return, will agree to not bully them, disparage them, or tweet them from office in their next primary election.
Spineless cowards! This shameful state-of-affairs is destroying our democracy.
39
Beg to differ and hate to admit he is winning at making big deals out of nothing and nothing of big deals. He is the master of the upside down, the void, the news!
7
Forget the Latin. Trump used bribery and extortion to try to force Ukraine to give him political favors and in doing so jeopardized our national security and Ukraine’s. That is not only impeachable but it is treasonous. His entire cabinet including the horrific Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and VP Pence participated in this scandal. They all must face justice in the courts and hopefully punishment for their failures to live up to their oaths of office.
The Republican Party deserves a long time in the political wilderness for their support and participation in this corruption! People must vote to throw these
imposters out!
39
Within the last 12 hours Trump is being crushed at every turn.
--Trump backed Bevin's LOST to Democrat Andy Beshear in the KY governor’s race even with Trump appearing at Bevin’s rally Monday night with Paul Rand spouting some of the most bizarre comments yet about announcing the whistleblower by name!
--Iran announced Tuesday it would inject uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges that had previously been kept empty under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
--President Donald Trump’s longtime accounting firm must hand over eight years of his tax returns to New York prosecutors, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday, the latest setback for Trump in his tenacious efforts to keep his finances secret. The next appeal step is to be sent to the SCOTUS justice over this appeals court-Justice Ruth Bader Gingsberg!
--Virginia Election: Democrats Take Full Control of State Government!
With a Democratic governor in office, the party was in full control of Virginia state government for the first time in a generation.
It’s only worsening for DJT!
37
Don’t forget the reversal testimony of his diplomat to Ukraine who now says there indeed was Quid Pro Quo. Another nail in his coffin.
5
The prospect of perjury conviction focuses the mind.
30
I’ve read nearly everything available in the NYT relating to the impeachment inquiry. I’ve also watched nearly everything on the subject covered by CNN and MSNBC. Along the way I’ve sampled FOX News, listened to Republican commentary, and carefully taken in everything President Trump has had to write and say.
I’m very sad to conclude that Mr. Trump is a thoroughly dishonest scoundrel. Almost everything he says or writes is untrue or dishonest. I am no longer surprised or shocked by anything he says or does.
What does surprise me is that nearly every Republican Senator and Congressman backs up the President’s lies and behavior exactly as directed in the President’s secret directive. Most recently we’ve all had to hear ridiculous criticism of the impeachment process, then non sensical defenses of his Ukrainian extortion, and now finally something along the lines of “yes, he did it, but it’s no big deal - and certainly not an impeachable offense”.
Apparently, all Trump supporters have lost their senses of honesty, decency, and fair play. There is no moral compass guiding these folks. If the shoe was on the other foot, to be fair Democrats would probably show themselves to be just as morally bankrupt.
Is this the end of the greatest democracy in the history of modern civilization? It sure looks like it. I find it very depressing. Half of America still supports the man. And that makes things 10 times worse.
I’m old and will be dead soon. I’m looking forward to it.
36
@ Peter Civardi
Dear Peter - there must be other reasons to enjoy your remaining time on this planet (in this lifetime - according to some traditions): the smell of nature, grand children, the joy of music.
Many are as alarmed as you. The Trump calamity can be dispiriting. As hard as it is - try to turn away from it for a bit.
Best wishes.
29
@Peter Civardi
I can't imagine ANY of the Democratic candidates orchestrating such a corrupt conspiracy, so this shoe would never be on the other foot. And even if, I am confident that Democratic voters and party leaders would force their president to resign if they were caught betraying our country that way. And by the way, hang on a while longer, we need citizens like you.
7
I have to disagree about the Democrats....not all of them would back up lies and misdeeds....
1
A key point that hasn't been emphasized is that Trump tried to force Ukraine to ANNOUNCE an investigation into the Bidens. He didn't really care about an actual investigation. That is all he really needed - it was a corrupt attempt to influence the 2020 election.
38
Trump's obsession with Ukraine was planted by Putin's guys. He was helping Putin to destabilize further the country that Putin wants to own. Trump was aiding an enemy against an American ally. Is that not treason?
With the accumulation of actions and words by Trump against the US government and the people of this country the only conclusion to draw is that the President of the United States is committed to destroying the functioning of the state and rendering impotent the Constitution. If only his crime was just wanting to win the 2020 election so much that he was willing to extort false information about Biden from the Ukraine.
18
Mulvaney din't make a error when he stated "we do it all the time" he was just ahead of schedule. The Trump method. Step one-It;s all fake news, complete denial. As evidence mounts, yes, it looks like a quid pro quo but it isn't, it was a perfect call. Step three- as the evidence gets worse smear the messengers. When denial becomes untenable step four. So what, there is nothing wrong with it. Mulvaney simply went to step 4 before step two and three had played out.
31
Does anyone think for a minute that this revelation, or any revelation, will put a stop to Trump's lies and counterattacks? They will only increase, and the morally bankrupt GOP will continue going about their business as if nothing has happened. The Senate will never remove Trump from office, and in this gerrymandered nation that for some unknown reason we refer to as a democracy, there's a substantial chance he'll be re-elected.
25
Sondland can’t use the excuse that not being a lawyer doesn’t give him the insight to determine if some action is illegal.
Ignorance of the law excuses no one.
15
It worked for Dump jr. He sought Russian help with dirt on Clinton, and also recall that he was seeking campaign donations from British donors. He just didn’t get very far with the latter.
1
Once upon a time we had the best and brightest citizenry on the planet. Our government did not invest in keeping our citizenry this way. They preferred a dumbed down citizenry. This opens the door for the demagogue. We are fortunate that this time, the demagogue was not particularly bright, shrewd, or, well spoken.
Time to demand excellence in our families once again. Excellence in parenting, nutrition, education and opportunity.
Do this at the voting both.
50
@HoodooVoodooBlood
Fully agreed. Americans need to start with good parenting. As an immigrant who has lived here for 15+ years, I am sorry to say that Americans make for terrible parents. They could really learn a thing or two from the east in that regard.
10
@ Hoodoo Voodo Blood
Great comment. Look at the election of Reagan, won by the scare that white privilege might be over in the hands of Democrats, when the dumbing down began in earnest.
2
Forget about what Sondland told Congress.
Trump will be undone by a woman.
Not the first, second, or third wife.
Not Elizabeth Warren.
Nancy Pelosi will take him down.
37
GOP does not care what the evidence shows on Trump's strong arming President of Ukraine. GOP has no concern about Trump being involved in bribery, self dealing or blatant treason. Exposing and punishing the whistleblower is much more important to GOP members o f the Congress.
9
This current illumination of trump corruption obfuscates the immense failure of his administration.
1. Immediate better and affordable healthcare. FAIL
2. Mexico would fund the wall. FAIL
3. 4 - 6 % GDP. FAIL
4. The unfunded tax giveaway would pay for itself. FAIL
5. The Deficit would be decreased. BIG BIG FAIL
and so much more ABJECT FAILURE
45
@APO
The sad thing is that Trump, even though the majority of his 2016 promises have turned out to be failures, he will run in 2020 by claiming he fulfilled all his promises. To extend your list, coal jobs returned, fail, draining the swamp by stocking his government with former K street big wigs, peace in the middle east, not, bringing the troops home,he hasn't, the nukes will be gone from North Korea, really? 6 brand new steel plants is actually no new steel plants. deficit reduced is actually a trillion dollar deficit increase. where is that "easy trade war" victory? SO MUCH WINNING
18
Really who in their right minds ever thought someone so bad at business and morally lacking could guide our country? Corruption, lies, cheating? The qualities of a president? He was and still is known as exactly the type of person he is. Some refuse to do the right things this country was founded on. No the bit I knew of him and seeing him perform on his show was all I needed to see he was no president.
9
Don't forget Trump's promise to release his tax returns after the election!
2
This won’t change anything
The Republicans are already saying ‘so what’.
The Evangelicals don’t care as long as they have their judges installed
The Klansmen certainly won’t withdraw support based on this.
Joe the plumber cannot be bothered by Ukraine.
So,this is a nothing burger
6
@Trudy Orwell
How many evangelical Republican plumbers who belong to the KKK can there be in the US? I think we Democrats far outnumber them and will outvote them.
27
@dlb It's not the intersection of those sets, it's the union that is the problem.
7
You know, there’s starting to be a Wall-sized wall of nothing burgers.
6
Good lord America, when will this circus end?
19
Maybe Sondland will come back a third time and give us another version. The third time is always a charm. Schiff should write a statement out for Sondland to read. It would save a lot of time and a lot of confusion.
This is really going well.
A lot of people are seeing things differently.
What's for dinner?
9
Throw Trump under the bus before he throws you under the bus.
One does not need a Harvard law degree to give such sage advice.
27
Looks as if he carefully worded it in a way that protects the president, i.e., it was his own misunderstanding, no? I think Sondland is still loyal to Trump.
6
When we observe democracy in America in the Trump era, we must conclude that Darwinian evolution is still very much a work in progress.
14
Oh? And how’re you all doing with addressing flobal warming and treating refugees decently? Handled that yet, have you?
2
Dems fear November 3, 2020 because they know they are going to lose. Hence all the desperate attempts to impeach and convict President Trump before that date. But the Senate will not convict because Dems don’t have a two thirds majority in the Senate. Dems going DOWN in November 2020.
4
@John Murray Keep living the dream until Thanksgiving, which is when Trump is going down or until Nov 2020, when republicans are going down. Bigly.
23
I think that this might be my last response to people like you. I pity those of you who absolutely REFUSE to accept facts and the truth about what’s happening to OUR country right now. I’m so tired of trying to point you to credible and reliable sources for information, putting up links to ALL of the debunked multiple conspiracy theories out there, encouraging you to try and improve your reading comprehension and critical thinking skills, etc., but to no avail. It’s just unbelievable how much this bizarre person in OUR White House has completely fooled you. So, never let it be said that those of us who were/are not fooled by his circus act didn’t try to warn you. Not all of you are so far gone that they haven’t been able to take the blinders off and the ear plugs out to realize just how awful this country has become. Shame on you.
46
I love a dreamer
6
Republicans look extremely foolish, contorting themselves into ever less plausible and palatable defenses of Dear Leader as the evidence stacks up.
There is no longer any doubt there was a quid pro quo.
Why don’t Republicans practice what they preach for a change? Their hypocrisy is stunning.
The schadenfreude is delicious.
22
Should we believe Gordon D. Sondland now?
3
@P&L
Well, is his corrected testimony more consistent with the rest of the facts in evidence? Do we think he tried to be more forthcoming to immunize himself from being charged with perjury? Is he still a pathetic weasel? On balance we should believe Sondland about the quid pro quo, now. What’s your opinion?
1
You can tell that man is lying, when he moves his lips.
Thanks, Shemekia.
4
Remember, Everything Trump Touches Dies!!!
12
Dear America, May I have a do-over, please ? Signed, Amb. Sondland. A man who realizes he got in over his head and is likely innocent of intent and unknowledgeable of the gross plot at hand. But that did not give him permission to lie to Congress and now the fact avalanche by virtue of credible testimony had set upon his so that his recall improved voluntarily before it cost him.
8
Is there any chance these Trump Republicans might ever give honesty a shot?
16
No.
19
Like we really didn't know this all along............
4
The real hidden grenade in this story is that Pence knew.
45
@Amy D
The Christmas surprise: Pence, like Spiro Agnew before him, pleads nolo contendere in the face of criminal charges, resigns from office just before articles of impeachment against Trump are passed by Congress and delivered to the Senate. Trump chooses Cruz for VP, shoots the moon before the Senate can vote to remove him. Cruz pardons Trump, is defeated in 2020 by the Warren/Buttigieg ticket.
Has the gop begun to set the stage for mike pence to replace trump
3
I know I'm one of those "hope springs eternal" types, but I'm more than just hoping I'll live to see Sondlam's name in the history books as the first rat to jump ship.
11
Sondland "revises his testimony"?
In other words, his prior testimony was false?
It's a simple, but accurate truism: "There are many versions of lies but ONLY ONE version of the 'truth'!"
13
This testimony and the related conduct renders this a conspiracy to commit bribery and for public officials, to commit extortion. (check their legal definitions). Bribery is expressly named as a high crime and misdemeanor in the US Constitution, and extortion also qualifies. Trump, Giuliani, Sondland and all their co-conspirators are criminals and this is clearly an impeachable offense.
15
Mr. Sondland's change of testimony only confirms the obvious. I doubt it will change anyone's mind.
Here's what I think is more likely to count. Mexico looks to be a failed state or close to it. If the Democrats pick a candidate who favors relaxing controls on the southern border, as many seem to, he/she will be efficiently pilloried in Republican ads based on the killing of nine LDS (Mormon) U.S. citizens (three women and six children) and the recent gunbattle in Culiacán, in which drug cartels outgunned the state.
Given the state of the Democratic field, I regret to say that I think President Trump is likely to be reelected, and if he's not, Vice President Pence will be our next president. A majority of citizens don't like Mr. Trump but if they have to pick between whatever dodges his tax returns reveal and the Ukraine business or, instead, emasculating the Border Patrol, they'll go for the former. Not in Cambridge, Mass. or Boulder, Colo., of course, but in swing states that count.
6
@Cyclist
Why don't you leave the swing states to do their own thing and tell us what it is that you will do. Isn't that afterall the main point of these comments?
5
@Indisk — I am happy to indulge you, though I don't agree that one's voting preferences are or should be the main point of these comments.
I can't imagine voting to reelect President Trump, nor did I vote for him in 2016. He is unfit for the office.
If the Democrat is acceptable, I'll vote for him/her. So far that includes Gabbard, Yang, Bullock, and Buttigieg gladly; Biden, Sanders, Booker, and Bennet reluctantly; and maybe Warren as long as I'm sure the Senate will block her more madcap schemes. Not Harris, Castro, Steyer, or Klobuchar.
Because I live in California, I could write in Cthulhu or Superman and it wouldn't matter. It would be the same if I lived in Oklahoma.
2
Why are do we continue to use "quid quo pro" terminology. It sounds so benign. What we're really dealing with here is attempted "bribery and extortion" and that's how it should be described in the press.
27
So what? This is now tribalism. Trump will sadly win again because 30 percent of this nation voted symbolically. Trump is just fine with that.
2
This is the typical M.O. for the republicans... deny the admit. It has worked so far. Will republican voters see through their lies? TBD.
5
Lets cut the Latin it was Bribery pure and simple.
23
Sondland "updated" his sworn testimony? This is from "The Daily Show," correct?
12
The Oregon boycott of Sondland properties has surely indued it to recant its' previous lies.
And please don't forget Katy Durant, the Sondland consort.
Hey, remember when YOU donated $1 million? No? loser.
The very amusing dismay of Sondland/Durant is instructive: if you buy yourself a sinecure, and it all goes south, who's to blame?
Fascists, of course.
9
Why is our country bending over backwards to prop up Trump's ego, insecurity, ineptitude, and disgusting abuse of power? Mitch McConnell and his Republicans would rather drag us all into moral oblivion than lead with courage. Weak, weak people who seek to hold onto their power through manipulation and lies. Trump is Nero and they all dance to his fiddle while Democracy, civility, and our Constitution burn.
19
Maybe because the federal reserve keeps pumping the leveraged economy with abnormally low interest rates and people wrongly attribute it to current leadership policies, such as tariff taxes, and are willing to look the other way as long as the market isn’t tanking?
11
Why is Sondland not going to jail for lying to the House committee? He obviously did, since he was unequivocal in his first statement, then contradicted it in his second.
17
Perhaps there’s other evidence contradicting his earlier claim, so maybe he had no choice but to come clean now?
3
@Brian He wasn't under oath in his first testimony. Funny how the threat of perjury will help to change a person's mind.
10
sondland is a clown working for a criminal. trump said he loves the "under-educated", but i'm thinking 45's rethinking that stance now.
11
Yes.. why aren’t all these prima donnas in prison for lying and treating our National Security like a personal toy. Maybe Virginia and Kentucky are the beginning of the end of our Trumpian era nightmare?
14
This really should end the debate of WHETHER Trump committed high crimes. The debate should now shift to WHAT the appropriate punishment should be.
20
On second thought, now that you say it, it's all coming back to me now. Upon further reflection, given some time to retrace my steps and further evaluation, it's all becoming clear to me. I offer this reevaluation for your consideration in hopes that it will make my previous narrative slightly more accurate. I never intended to mislead anyone or parse my words in favor of anybody out of fear of retaliation. My only hope is that these clarifications are helpful to the process and I apologize for any inconvenience. Now if you'll excuse me I have some fences to mend back home. I wish I had never left.
20
@richard wiesner
Oregon: Please destroy Sondland and his businesses. Leave him penniless. That's the least of what he deserves.
8
I will not patronize or recommend any of his establishments and hopefully I’m not alone.
1
I think many Republicans in America would have disregarded Trump's many personal peccadilloes, if you can call them that, from Day 1 just to give him an opportunity to execute his myriad anti-Obama/Mexico/EU/... plans. After the Mueller report, these Republicans were emboldened with the new mantra of a Democratic witch hunt against our Dear President. Sadly, now the USA, the shining beacon of a successful functioning democracy, resembles more of a dictatorship / monarchy where Trump is the absolute.
The Ukraine-gate saga is the line in the sand that any Republicans, if they had any compunctions, should cross. Sondland has set the example. Now we have to wait and see if others follow. It is more than quid pro quo. It is the values that was worth fighting for. It is the sense of right and wrong that we inculcate in future generations.
16
@Prakash Sri
It’s admirable how naïve you are. Forget about it. Republicans have neither conscience nor shame. Only opportunism, expediency, and lust of money and power guide their approach to government. They care only for their mega rich owners, themselves of course, and nothing for you and me. They are all business grifters or religious charlatans. Any lie to fill their coffers.
Luckily for them, in America there’s a sucker born every minute.
7
Mark Meadows' body language projects he doesn't believe what he's saying anymore and he's lost all credibility. He needs to stop talking, find a quiet place, and reflect on why he chooses to disregard the U.S. Constitution in favor of advocating for a con man who violates it. This is no game and there's nothing admirable in what Meadows is doing. Nothing at all.
43
Law Schools teach to lie. As do marketing gurus.
Sondland lied and now admitted it. Why isn’t he in jail?
19
Sondland is totally corrupt. What? He didn’t know he needed to tell the truth under oath the first time? It’s truly hard to believe there are so many totally corrupt white men under Trump. Their mothers must be so proud. Their spouses must be corrupt too.
33
Correction: Hodgenville, Kentucky.
Trump lies whenever his lips move.
25
Republicans will continue to defend this vile criminal. What will it take? Revolution? Where our justice system fails angry mobs at their homes may succeed.
17
Headline should actually read: "Sondland Updates Impeachment Testimony, Describing Ukraine EXTORTION."
Stop calling it a "quid pro quo." Sure, that's what it is, but it is worse than that. It is EXTORTION and BRIBERY of a foreign government using US Taxpayer money.
THAT is what is impeachable.
It's like the difference between "collusion" and "conspiracy."
Call it what it is. A crime. A high-crime, as defined in Article II of the US Constitution. An impeachable offense.
You do citizens a disservice when you continue to use the President's preferred language of "quid pro quo."
56
@Michael Faulkner
Small correction Michael: You do the citizens a disservice when you continue to repeat the President’s lies.
.
6
When people support the GOP they support:
Lying. Rigging absentee ballots. Corruption. Illegal gerrymandering. Lying. Conspiracy. Attempted rape. Obstruction. Lying. Stealing Supreme Court seats. Election interference. Coercion. Lying. Sexual assault. Overt racism. Illegal wars. Lying. Polluted air and water. Endorsing credibly accused pedophiles for the Senate. Lying. Emolument violations. Self-dealing. Unraveling of healthcare and the social safety net. Lying. Supporting our enemies over our allies. Destruction of the planet. Tax breaks for the filthy rich. Tax hikes for the middle class. Lying. And now, transparent and openly admitted extortion using $391 million in tax dollars.
And that's the short list.
No wonder the GOP is so popular! They're just giving their supporters what they want and deserve. Unfortunately, the majority of us, the ones that have never supported them, do not.
What do you call it when a minority subjects a majority to endless crimes and corruption for over 30 years? You call it "representative democracy" in the United States of America.
You could also call it a living, waking, nightmare.
44
@Chicago Guy
Exactly. Bravo.
Republicans are a fascist mafia impersonating a political party. They are and for a long time have been a disloyal opposition. Removing them from our political life is the first step to restoring any semblance of what’s left of our democracy.
12
"Gordon Sondland ... said he told the Ukrainians that they needed to comply with investigative requests by Rudy Giuliani."
It appears that Mr. Trump and the Republicans have finally
decided that Rudy Giuliani has become a liability, if not "damaged goods", and it is time to throw him under the bus.
Poor Rudy! His dream of acting as the consigliere for the big boss must be utterly shattered.
23
Let’s be clear, Sondland lied to Congress. Trump is exposed—naked on Fifth Ave with a smoking gun.
31
If only that were true! He’s not naked, he’s wearing an entire political Party and using it as a shield
7
“Updates” his testimony? Isn’t that perjury? How is this allowed? Lie through your teeth, get caught, no consequences...Update. Ridiculous!
30
"Nice little country ya got there. It'd be a shame if somethin' happened to it."
Sound familiar? Trump deserves the same fate as Al Capone.
31
And like Capone, exposing his taxes will bring him down.
10
Head shake. Just try to tell the American people Sondland isn't crooked as Trump is. Won't work.
11
Could the threat of holding the $400M, depending on the Ukraine investigating VP Biden’s son, be considered an attempt to use it as a campaign contribution to himself ?
14
After all that I hope we win. Trump needs to go.
16
Why are Republicans in Congress so desperately trying to build a protective wall around a man they didn't want to be president? Is it because they are petrified by being attacked by Trump's base or the fear that Pence cannot win the 2020 election? It cannot be because they believe Trump's corrupt and obstructive behavior is the hoax he claims it to be. Trump has poisoned the minds of his base and corrupted underlings such as Pompeo, Barr, and Mulvaney but judging by the tidal wave victory of Democrats in the House in 2018, the election of Democrat Andy Beshear in Kentucky, and the victory of Democrats in the Virginia state senate, congressional Republicans should consider abandoning Trump's foundering ship.
28
Because they are very evil people. It’s not like they don’t know. The few good ones retired or won’t run. It’s the one criminal organization where you can quit and there is no consequence like you see in the movies
12
Trump rallied in Kentucky yesterday for the Repub running for governor but the Dem won the governorship. I sure hope my tax dollars didn't pay for Trumps trip to KY.
33
The man needs to be charged with lying to Congress and put in jail. Why the kid gloves approach to these criminals? My faith in our justice system is out the window.
20
Sondland, Pence, Pompeo, Jordon, Nunes, Meadow, Lindsey, McConnell are all creatures of Trump's swamp.
31
And it only cost him a million bucks to make a fool of himself worldwide.
28
We can see where this one is headed. Over the weekend, the Trump team drew straws to see which one would fall on his sword. Gordon Sondland pulled the short one. Turns out, he now says, that there was quid pro quo, because he just recalled telling the Ukrainians that military aid would be held up until the White House got assurance that Ukraine would publish a statement about investigations. But he emphasizes that while he was talking to Taylor, he called Trump, who told him there should be no quid pro quo and the Ukrainians should just do what they thought was good policy. So this whole thing was Sondland’s rogue operation, maybe with Giuliani’s help. Trump was shocked, SHOCKED, to learn that the Ukrainians misunderstood.
21
The Republican shift from (a) no quid pro quo occurred, to (b) nothing is wrong with President Trump making the aid to the Ukraine conditional on the Ukrainian government getting dirt on Joe Biden's son (known as a quid pro quo) is yet another example of how morally and spiritually depraved Trump and his GOP apologists and lackeys are.
I just finished an essay by a political sociologist from Russia that was written as Glasnost and Perestroika were taking form. He argues there are three dimensions to morality: the individual, the group, and the spiritual, but without the spiritual dimension, the other two forms can become corrupted and run totally counter to what is actually just and moral. He used the totalitarian Stalin regime and Stalin's purges as an example!
Consider this definition of spirituality:
"the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things."
Without such spirituality, individuals and groups can defend the morally indefensible, because what is "good" is defined as what what one does to protect a thoroughly corrupt individual and/or a devious, duplicitous, and soulless group or regime.
Not the first time in history. But look what is happening to us when lying and hatred become the modus operandi of an entire political party and administration.
11
So now in addition to "Never Trump" people we are now getting "Once Upon a Time Trump" people?
6
This is classic. Sondland, a nobody who wandered onto stage at Trumpland, will turn out to be a critical witness. If this were 1972, the GOP would be sending a band of seniors to the WH suggesting Trump resign.
12
Didn't he learn anything from Frank Pentangeli
7
What are the chances Trump TOLD Sondland to lie to Congress? I bet pretty strong. I hope Congress pursues that.
14
Agree, Trump may get hung up on the same thing that affected Bill Clinton. Engaging others in government to lie on one’s behalf is suborning perjury, it is abetting obstruction of justice and it is misusing government resources in the commission of a felony.
7
New evidence ? Worry not - Fox News will "guide" the GOP toward a response that protects their favorite asset, i.e. Trump. And Rush Limbaugh will take care of messaging the same to rural America.
Welcome to a country where the information gap between the urban and rural populations is as wide and deep as the Grand Canyon.
17
Mr. Sondland, just wanted to let you know that I skipped going to the Russian tea at your Portland hotel last weekend. You betrayed our country.
25
And now he's saving it.
@Bonnie Huggins
He's saving his own hide, be assured.
No patriotism, just fear.
8
Pia- what's that old saying? Rats....? ....Ship?
3
I never knew that quid pro quo
could generate such massive woe.
The whole darn world is topsy turvey
as the Prez continues nervy.
'You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours'
is stickier than fresh s'mores . . .
12
Wow this guy is a real prize. Whoops I perjured myself defending Trump, and then I realized Trump is going to throw me overboard just like he has the hundreds of other people who have ruined their own reputations doing his dirty work.
Patriot, no. Helping the country remove the most corrupt President in American history from office... let’s hope.
21
Sondland stepping out from in front of the bus and making way for Rudy to be thrown under it.
22
Trump doesn't know Sondland. He has never met the man, and he doesn't know how he became Ambassador to the EU. He must have been appointed to that post by Rex Tillerson, who was a terrible Secretary of State, in way over his head.
26
No doubt someone on Schiff's committee ran into Sondland in the men's room and mentioned to him it would be too bad if he were unable to return to his hotel business and family.
6
Yes, they pointed out that Cohen is in prison for lying to Congress.
As someone else said, stop calling it “quid pro quo”, call it “extortion” because that is what it is, Mafia-style, and it is far easier to understand for the general public than a fancy Latin expression.
39
President Trump's sycophants allege that nowhere in Ambassador Sundland's deposition is Trump's directive for "quid pro quo" with Ukraine. You just have to listen to Michael Cohen"s testimony before congress or Director Comey's book for interpreting how Donald Trump speaks: he suggests, insinuates, never gives a clear order. He speaks like a Mafia boss.
30
How well I recall Trump supporters who snorted at the claim their man was in Putin‘s pocket by pointing to Ukraine. “Obama wasn’t willing to sell arms to the Ukrainians,” they cackled. “If Trump was Putin’s puppet, why would *he* be willing to do it?”
Why indeed.
12
Why would anyone want to protect Trump?
23
Yet another case of quickly-recovered “temporary amnesia”, and the truth wills out...Sondland gets that covering for the Donald isn’t any longer a shrewd career move. Or, rats abandoning a sinking ship, whatever.
16
The fact that Mr. Sondland has "updated" his testimony means that he lied the first time around. He should be in jail for purgery. Thank you.
13
@Southern Boy
It's perjury.
Although Sondland's behavior does elicit nausea.
5
@Southern Boy
Witnesses are, I believe, permitted to correct their testimony without penalty, if they do it in time. I presume this rule encourages truthfulness, even if it takes a little extra time.
3
Trump asked the president of the Ukraine to announce publicly that investigation against Hunter Biden is re-open. That is enough for Joe Biden to loose the election. Trump knows it as Hillary Clinton lost the election because FBI director James Comey announced publicly a week before election that a case against Hillary Clinton reopen. People read the headlines and make their decisions. News papers put the headlines based on what attracts the readers. Compare these two headlines: ‘ Ukraine reopened investigation against Hunter Biden’ versus ‘ Hunter Biden did nothing wrong but taking a second look before we close the case’.
8
@Kodali
Clinton won the election.
4
Mike Pompeo believes he will one day be president. Wait and see. These people are corrupt for selfish reasons. Love of country? Forget about it.
14
Sadly, Sondland has woken up and realizes he can't just pull a Trump and stonewall and lie his way through this debacle.
Residents in Oregon are already boycotting his hotels. He doesn't have Trump's resources to withstand the financial hit to his businesses; an established public persona to fight the bad publicity; the executive branch cover to keep him out of legal jeopardy with Congress. And lastly he's rich, but not billionaire rich, so it will cost him dearly to bankroll the necessary legal team that can pull him out of this quagmire.
And Trump will throw him under the bus, million dollar donation and all. Anyone who thinks they'll come out better having aided this man is sorely misguided. Barr, Mulvaney, beware!
22
The article states that Trump and his defenders, no longer able to claim with a straight face that there was no quid pro quo, have now retreated to the argument that a president insisting on a quid pro quo from a foreign government to benefit himself politically is not "an impeachable event.” If extorting the leader of a strategic foreign partner for personal gain and to the detriment of the United States is not an impeachable offense, nothing is. Their argument amounts to a claim that the impeachment clause is meaningless. On the contrary, Trump's corruption is at the core of what the Framers of the Constitution feared in drafting the impeachment clause.
36
Well put. This bores in to the nub of the case.
5
Why did Ambassador Sondland not include in his original testimony, what he is now saying in the second testimony? Perhaps, he has felt trapped with what the other witnesses have testified.
Those other witnesses are the key. The GOP would have wished those witnesses did not exist.
10
When any seat held by the GOP in Congress PLEASE get them OUT!!! Just for $ they have allied actually not only with the mafia but also against the country!!!
13
I am expecting trump to tweet that he does not know Sondland, never met him, must be a friend of Guilani's.
27
Like all mob plots, they all unravel when the lower level thugs start ratting on the Don.
21
Has Sondland been fired by tweet yet?
18
Can we PLEASE have an alternate republican candidate in the next election!!!??
12
So, Gordon Sondland would like to return to being a hotelier, rather than go to prison for perjury in the service of our Criminal In Chief.
21
Now that Placido Domingo is out at the Met, maybe Sondland can stand in for him. He sure can sing.
18
He sure can!! Lol
3
Guess Sondland figured out he didn't want to spend a couple of years in prison in order to save Trump from the impeachment and removal that he so richly deserves.
13
As a former Fed employee, I see that Sondland was out of his depth. Nevertheless, even if by accident, he witnesses the truth.
14
The ease at which they move the goalposts, with a straight face, yet again is an absolute art form.
"Trump didn't have a conversation with Ukraine."
"Okay, he spoke with Ukraine, but they didn't talk about Biden."
"Okay, they talked about Biden, but there was no quid pro quo."
"Okay, there was a quid pro quo, but what's the big deal? We do this all the time."
"Just kidding! There wasn't a quid pro quo...you guys in the lying media totally misunderstood."
"We did ask them to do us a favor, and we did withhold military aid."
"The process is being done without republicans!"
"The process is being done in secret!"
"The process is being done without all of the transcripts!"
"All of those who have come forward are Democrats or Never Trumpers!"
"The president cannot be prosecuted for his crimes."
The Trump Base
45
This should be a wake-up call to all Republicans, which is what used to be my political party of choice. Eat some humble pie, lick your wounds, and do the right thing - call this leaking vessel of an administration what it is - a vastly corrupt and irrefutable mistake - and move on to what we hope will be brighter days.
28
@mark harris Bravo!
4
Gordon D. Sondland should resign. He is not qualified by experience or morality. Just another Trump sycophant with a big checkbook.
Also, why does this guy get a pass for revised testimony? Most business organizations would have fired him. Having said that, Sarah H. Sanders and her successor probably think Mr. Sondland is weak and should be ridiculed for his recanting.
16
Oh my. How the cookie crumbles.
9
After all this, it's still astounding, incomprehensible really, that 41% of people in the U.S. still approve of Donald Trump (latest fivethirtyeight poll).
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
What does Trump have to do to get their disapproval? Sell Alaska back to Putin? Even then, some of his base would rationalise that.
22
Sondland refuses to address the big elephant- the testimony given that told of his narrative, the "drug deal" he was cooking up that spilled over into Bolton's WH meetings long before the infamous phone call.
He came into the EU loud, crass, and swinging pretty large, and now he wants to give us his rendition of the hapless Sgt Shultz.. "I know nothing??
No sale fella.
11
Trump is right.
There is no quid pro quo.
There is, simply, a man who acts brazenly pro domo sua.
6
Sondland gets to revise, to do an “addendum”. He comes up with the lame excuse that his memory was jogged by the testimony he heard other people had given. He thinks we’re all born yesterday or part of The Cult that his boss oversees. The way I learned it, when you lie under oath it’s called “perjury”. And when you are a public official, you’re supposed to pay a price for that. He’s going to wish he had remained a hotelier instead of dropping that million dollars to The Vile Occupant to buy the ambassadorship. He may have bought some time in prison as well. Plus, he wasn’t even the ambassador to Ukraine, he was ambassador to the EU. He was shifted over to do POTUS’s dirty work in Ukraine because he fit the bill - unscrupulous.
17
Amen!
4
Sad to see Sondland flailing like a weasel in his testimonial revisions, only upon being confronted by the honesty and heroism of patriots like Yovanovitch, Taylor, McKinley, Vindman and others. Sondland’s revised testimony makes him look dumb as an ox about Ukraine and a coward now trying to true his tracks.
Extorting Ukrainian politicians in order to skew our next election towards Trump. I hope Sondland’s hotels are shunned by all loyal Americans.
17
It would seem one of Mr. Sondland's lawyers gently took him aside and whispered, "Does the name Michael Cohen ring a bell?"
17
Paraphrasing Samuel Johnson regarding Gordon Sondland's revised testimony before the impeachment inquiry, “depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be charged with perjury in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
12
Time to clean the actual swamp.
10
Only liars keep changing their stories and moving the goal posts. It’s clear there was a quid pro quo; whether enough Republican senators can bring themselves to admit that publicly and vote for impeachment is the only question.
11
Just heard Sondland asked Trump what to say and was told, "Tell the truth."
Why would Trump say that?
Because he thought Sondland was caught red-handed lying, flipped, and was wired.
Ha. Mobstering is Trump's vocation.
13
Please report on the consequences, or lack of, for these people who ignore congressional requests for testimony! Our democracy is at stake!!!
10
So, the word "bribery" is a word that is part of the United States Constitution.
It's in there, literally.
It's in the Constitution as one of the offenses our founding fathers desigated as an impeachable offense.
Donald Trump is guilty of bribery during his tenure as President of the United States.
He bribed the President of Ukraine with military aid in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden.
There's nothing else that America needs to know.
Time for him to go.
21
Funny how fast people remember the truth when they are reminded of the consequences for continuing to lie.
That, and legal costs, tighten the noose around The Donald and Rudy by the minute.
Soon it will be the two of them. Then only one.
15
Most Trump voters couldn’t find Ukraine on a map if their life depended on it, and they won’t care about this latest evidence of his criminality. They’re behind him for much more visceral reasons, and as long as he continues to vilify immigrants and people of color, he’s a shoe-in for a second term. The Stable Genius knows America’s original sin, and he’s sacrificing the soul of the nation on its altar.
11
He has a good lawyer. told him to tell the truth.
6
It will be again like 1974. Very soon senior GOP leaders will break away with Trump and show him the door when more evidence will surface against Donald Trump. He will resign soon
14
Whatever Gordon Sondland thought he would be remembered for in life is now forever eclipsed by his association with Donald Trump in a still unfolding international political scandal. That surely isn't what he hoped his million dollar campaign contribution to Trump would buy, and should be a warning to anyone else who has hopped on the Trump carousel for a ride to ignominy.
19
If Trump is not impeached and he wins a second term, God save the motherland.
13
Republicans have gone from saying that basically nothing of interest happened, to "oh well, it happened but it's just not impeacheable."
Let's say, hypothetically, that an American company makes and sells lithium batteries to the government. Then the government decides to sell them to Israel. Then President X steps in and says to Israel that we won't sell them to you unless you use your influence with religious voters in the US to vote for me. President X makes his staff carry this out and ousts any staff that won't cooperate. Would all THAT be impeacheable? Because if that's impeacheable, then this is.
8
Bribery is impeachable. It doesn’t specify which way the bribery should go. Seems they were bribing each other.
2
Let’s quit calling it quid pro quo. Call it what it is. Extortion. A term we all understand. Something you go to prison for.
34
We need to stop using the term at all...including the press. It doesn't matter if there was a "quid pro quo". The ASK was the CRIME.
26
Question... Did Mr. Sondland update his testimony for his own sake or for the sake of his country?
10
His own sake!
4
Maybe a quid pro quo is no big deal. However, when it involves asking a foreign government to get involved in US domestic politics it becomes a very big deal.
13
The problem remains that using financial pressure on foreign governments is nothing new. For example, Joe Biden as VP telling the Ukrainians that one billion dollars would not be forthcoming u less their prosecutor was fired within the next six hours. This is as told by Biden himself on video. Now, it seems the prosecutor in question should have been fired long before, but the question remains, what is the difference? This whole thing remains an attempt to remove Trump because the Democrats have come to the painful realization this years crop of potential nominees just can’t win against him. They would be far better off to look for a candidate who could beat Trump. How hard could that be?
2
The HUGE difference is the motive of the pressure. Biden, along with the everyone else in the west recognized that there was indeed major corruption going on and that investigations should happen that were not ( including into the very company that his sone was working for) which was in the better interest of our National security. Trump, on the other hand was doing it for TRUMP .. for TRUMP .. like every single other thing he does. That is corrupt and impeachable
9
@Thomas Smith: Glaring omission in your story: The financial pressure by Joe Biden was in the country’s interest and had the support of the American government, the IMF and the EU. Joe Biden did not in any way benefit personally from it and he did not use it to pressure Ukraine to find dirt on a political opponent. That’s what Trump did, endangering American national security and committing illegal and impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors”. And just for your information: Impeachment is indeed the Constitutional procedure of removing a president who proves himself unworthy of the office.
14
The difference is that firing the prosecutor was not for the purpose of secretly and corruptly benefitting the individual making the request.
6
So what?
As long as you don't care about the Constitution, you're right!
7
Trump supporters: “So what if he’s a criminal? He’s done more to mainstream and empower violent white nationalists than any American president in history. That’s why we support him!”
10
& BearBoy
Another cogent defense of a president guilty of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, high crimes and misdemeanors.
Trump is compromised
Trump is a threat to our democracy and to our national security.
7
Sondland has plenty of money. He doesn’t want to go to jail for a con man like Trump. He’s also smart enough to know with Trump,loyalty is a one way street.
18
Can you imagine the conversation Gordon must have had with his wife about what he was going to say? Poor guy. In the end he did the right thing. After all who would want to be on the team that just buried the Paris Climate Accord? Who are these people? Why won’t they just go back to what ever gated community they came from?
13
If Mr. Trump had even a shred of honor he would send gift baskets in gratitude to the NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC, and all the rest of the so-called MSM. That is because for every hour of every day they sugarcoat and soft-pedal what he has done, doing their darndest to ensure he will stay in office and quite possibly be reelected.
Even the Democratic spokes-heads are in on it. “Quid pro quo!” they repeat, a la Chatty Cathy. Or its equally pastel partner: “Bribery!”
NO and NO.
IQ test question: are the following the same or different?
A check for $130K of his own money for Stormy to keep quiet about a one-30-minute-stand. That’s quid pro quo. That’s bribery. And honestly, who cares?
The withholding of nearly $400M of military funds from taxpayer’s money, already promised to a small nation desperately fighting for its survival, until and unless they publicly announce a (bogus) investigation into a political rival.
That’s EXTORTION.
The voters would care about that. If anybody bothered to tell them.
22
@Marty
Bribery and extortion are both impeachable offenses and worthy of removal
12
The first one is against election laws.
5
Dig up dirt on my political opponent if you want the money.
Bribery.
25
How many people will Trump be allowed to destroy before Republicans admit what a horror he is?
16
Trump began his campaign with the birther charge, setting off what was fundamentally a racist reaction by those who (previously silent) could not bear a black becoming President. And, Trump has not let up, with supporters enabling him as he has destroyed everything he touches. I absolutely believe that under any other circumstance, middle America would not give Trump, the very cliche of a pushy, amoral, money grubbing New Yorker, the time of day. Now, Trumpsters find themselves in an ever deepening hole. Like their beloved leader they will not admit they might have been wrong, or he is a failure.
We are like victims of assault. We must restore hope, strength, humanity and not be victimized a second time by our own failure to get this monster out by every possible means.
17
It must cause Trump no end of irritation that the Ukraine did not do what he wanted. He cannot imagine that his dictates ever fall on wiser ears and he's horrified when he doesn't get what he wants. It's white male privilege Just like Kavanaugh and Lawrence VanDyke, white men threatened with not getting what they want, when they want it, burst into tantrums.
8
Is there anyone (other than maybe the Fox News folks) who really thinks that Mr. Sondland just in the last few days remembered this new information? Little chance. Much more likely was receiving legal advice that lying to Congress is a felony. First smart move you have made since your appointment Mr. Ambassador.
22
With all these revelations about and around our den of thieves, I keep thinking "...but how will it affect the November 2020?" Does anybody know?
1
If a member of this administration does NOT want to come before a impeachment inquiry, or submit themselves after ANY subpoena that is issued for them to appear, why are THEY STILL BEING PAID?
Can't congress pull their paychecks?
We need to make some noise folks.
HOLD THEIR PAYCHECKS!!!
You or I certainly wouldn't get away with that nonsense.
14
Is “refresh my recollection” the new euphemism for “I lied before but now I’m afraid I might get caught and go to jail so I’m pretending I was just confused”?
23
@SYJ
Yes, it is.
4
Stop! Stop discussing quid pro quo. It's either a bribe or extortion. Holding up allocated money designated for defending the nation is extortion. But asking the foreigners for a thing of value, help in your US election, is itself a crime even without the extortion aspect. Does Don Corleone tell someone he would like to bribe them? he feels bad about extorting them? No, he asks for a favor. What stalled all of this? The Ukrainians knew that a crook like Trump, in the pocket of Russia, would welch on handing over the funds once the requested public announcement of an investigation was made. His reputation has preceded him.
16
Two suggestions to Congressional Democrats.
1) Stop using the term quid pro quo. Instead, say: "Arms for Political Dirt." Like "arms for hostages" in the Iran Contra Affair.
2) Adam Schiff should always be paired with Jackie Spears in TV interviews. The two would be much more effective together.
13
House Democrats should be adding bribery to Trump’s impeachment charges.
10
I find it bizarre that Trump’s handpicked point man Sondland would voluntarily reappear to provide a revised testimony that would solidify rather than diminish the “quid pro quo” case against Trump. He would never dare to do such a thing without Trump’s prior approval. I am wondering if team Trump has decided that they are going to stop their risible denial of a quid pro quo that was plainly evident to all except Trump and instead argue that a quid pro quo is not impeachable. That sounds more like a Trump ploy. First lie. Then fight to get away with it. If the reaction to the lie continues to be negative change tack. Admit to the lie and argue that a lie is not a crime so what’s the fuss all about. A man who operates like that just also happens to be the president and likely, if only by a slender margin, to be re-elected. Ugh.
3
Sondland, in his "update" is now in compliance with the copius, corroborated, and substantial narrative that Mr. Trump is indifferent to his duties as the chief executive of this nation, and instead, prefers self aggrandizement!
8
Right. Here is a country mired in mid-1900 socioeconomic problems, desperately trying to ward off a military giant with the cash help from allies. Everyday Ukrainians have to bribe their way through to get everything from driving license to building permits, greasing the bureaucratic wheels and making sure not to cross high-level enemies if they want to keep living.
But Donald Trump was really worried that most of this corruption was caused by Hunter Biden! Sure. Before Hunter Biden was born, Ukraine was practically the Switzerland of Middle East, as we know.
6
I'm sad to say that even Ambassador Sondland's amended testimony, admitting that Trump's withholding military aid authorized by Congress to Ukraine unless it investigates Joe Biden and his son amounts to a "quid pro quo", will not persuade Trump's supporters to abandon their Dear Leader. Lindsey Graham now says he won't read the newly released testimony provided in closed session to the House committees investigating potentially impeachable offences by Trump. How do you persuade people who have fingers in their ears shouting "I can't hear you!" As comments in this section attest, Trump was right. He has shot someone on Fifth Avenue and his supporters refuse to admit that what happened really, in fact, happened, or if it happened, it wasn't really an impeachable offence. One begins to wonder if half of the United States has somehow entered the Twilight Zone!
25
He woke up to perjury being a worse fate than being on Trump's bad side.
20
"As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Taylor said in a text exchange in September.
“The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo’s of any kind,” Sondland texted back. “The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign.”
Sondland, though, explained to the committees that Trump said something similar to him during a phone call, in which he said Trump was in a "bad mood" and nearly hung up on him.
"I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo," Trump said, according to Sondland. "I want Zelensky to do the right thing."
2
@novoad The above are quotes from the testimony. Check it. So there was no quid pro quo. Taylor and Sundman confirmed it.
If there were a quid pro quo, the article would print it, rather than be vague about it. What Sundland said was that in September he had a "feeling" that the aid would not be restored without a Ukrainian statement on corruption. A few days later, the aid was restored in full without a Ukrainian statement on corruption. So Sundman's feeling was wrong.
1
Sure thing, novoad. Kinda like Tinkerbelle, if you believe it enough, maybe you can make it come true.....
3
@novad
The only reason the Ukraine funding was finally released was because the bipartisan senate subcommittee (Lindsey Graham was on the committee), who had been trying to find out for months why it had not been released and who were rightfully concerned, attached a special pool amendment to a 2020 Defense Spending Bill to make sure the money would finally be released. The day before the vote on the bill, the money was released. Trump ordered the money frozen on July 25th. It was finally released on September 11th.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, our ally, was under threat from Russia.
Facts matter, comrade.
5
I still have not seen anything stating the quid pro quo was for investigating Biden. This article even dances around it and doesn’t specifically state it or show the actual testimony that says it. It once again says the aid was held up for Ukrainian committing to corruption investigations and that is not an impeachable offense.
3
The delay was an abuse of office and a form of bribery.
9
I take it you don’t believe the president’s interest in corruption in Ukraine begins and ends with the Bidens — and the truly loony notion that it was the Ukrainians, not the Russians, who interfered in the 2016 election.
5
This is the John Dean moment. Sondland revises his prior statement - whoops, sorry, I forgot, yes they did ask that the aid be tied to the announcement of an investigation. As several people have said in the comments, all Trump needed was the announcement - he really couldn't care less what the results would be - just that there was an investigation.
If Trump had evidence - and of course he doesn't - of wrongdoing by the Bidens then that's what the FBI is for. The fact that he didn't ask the FBI to investigate tells you all you need to know about the nature and extent of that 'evidence.'
21
I imagine Sondland looked at the possibility of a much less luxurious and longer room stay than what he’s accustomed to and decided to cancel the reservation.
25
Clearly politics is more than Sondland bargained for. That and some reflection in a lawyer's office propelled our Hotel magnate back to Capitol Hill to set the record straight.
Sondland is part of a political tradition...basically graft. Paying money to get a sweet diplomatic post. Oh sorry, it's a donation...
The corruption of the personnel process hollows out what the Foreign Service actually tries to accomplish around the world, high quality work that should be left to the professionals.
19
Yes - it is impeachable, and damning. A President benefiting himself by using the dynamics of American power, to the detriment of national policy and the good of our country, has to be removed from office.
24
Yes it’s impeachable and it will not happen. We have raced to the murky bottom. Just a decade or so a go a president’s breach of integrity warranted impeachment. Now any transgression is acceptable as long as the flailing Republican Party can hold on to power. History will not judge Trump apologists kindly.
8
"Instead they have adopted the argument that a president insisting on a quid pro quo from a foreign government to benefit himself politically may be of concern, but it is not — in the words of Mr. Trump himself — “an impeachable event.”
And thus we enter in the Orwellian pages of 1984.
10
This is precisely why the witnesses were first interviewed in private.
25
I'm pleased that talking heads are starting to abandon the innocuous term "quid pro quo" (which most folks don't fully understand) and are starting to use the correct labels like "bribery", "shakedown", and "extortion".
And the continuing call from the GOP for the name of the "whistleblower" is getting tired. What's their point, beyond distraction (and revenge)? We're weeks beyond that.
23
@J Darby maybe americans should start learning Latin then
1
@Dre
I was an altar boy, learned the whole RCC mass in Latin. Days/week before I first uttered my first official word, Vatican 2 happened and I never got to deliver!
3
This moment marks the official time to leave the whistleblower alone.
13
Well, that didn't take long. Sondland's priorities have switched from being an international player to staying out of jail. May he be the first of many.
19
Sondland confirms the former consigliere Michael Cohen’s description of Don Trump’s method of communication: “he speaks in a code”, not directly stating what he wants but expecting that those around him will get the point.
So he advises his hand picked, fellow developer Sondland that there is no quid pro quo all he wants is that Zelensky do what he promised to do.
I think Sondland and Volker were wearing their Little Orphan Donny decoder rings and got the message; but Trump believes he has covered the tracks leading to the Oval Office. A prosecutor would try to,prove to an impartial jury that Trump referred Sondland and Volker to Rudy, and Rudy made the demands on the Ukrainians to investigate the Bidens and the ambassadors knew Rudy’s game plan; and that Trump has a pattern of using his minions (like Cohen or the Enquirer) to,do his dirty work . The Senate is not merely the opposite of impartial, they are truly a jury of Trump’s peers: sheep in his flock.
Our government is run by a mob boss. The jury pool is stacked with acquitters.
He may beat this rap. Al Capone was behind scores of killings but was famously taken down with a conviction of tax evasion. Can we see those tax returns please?
19
Two questions:
What did Vice President Pence know and when did he know it?
Why are we using the term the President likes for this transaction with Ukraine? Let’s call it bribery or blackmail or extortion.
26
Who said what and when and where does not matter matters because the Republican Senators will never convict the president, no matter what. It is a forgone conclusion. This is “just” a futile attempt to stand your moral ground publicly agains corruption and criminal behaviors of our president. Should he be impeached ABSOLUTELY , will he be convicted - NEVER - but not for the lack of evidence.
6
Even if he is not convicted in the Senate..and the way events have been snowballing of late, I wouldn’t bet on anything..the stench of impeachment will linger in the history books and will foul his family’s name for generations
5
Trump, his men in Congress and his supporters are taking our democracy over the cliff.
And they tell us, “Deal with it”
Don’t think so.
14
The headline should be changed and “quid pro quo” should be replaced with the word that is actually used in the Constitution, under Impeachment: bribery. Forty percent of the electorate will not understand quid pro quo (because Latin). They WILL understand bribery, or extortion.
19
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s private lawyer, runs American foreign policy. The morale at the State Department is at a all time low and the Republicans could care less. The Russians are winning.
15
Trump is deploying countermeasures to confuse the subjects. He likely learned it back in New York.
Everything adds up to espionage when Trump conspired to undermine our government with foreign aid.
The blackmail was only the tools of the crime.
5
Although I wholly support impeachment, we already know what will happen. The House will impeach, the Senate Republicans will refuse to vote for removal, Trump will gloat that he's been exonerated, and his approval rating will be 42 percent. As such, the only option for removing this treasonous criminal remains the ballot box.
8
How is this guy able to flop like this? Why was he not arrested? How many people have committed perjury under oath in the last 3 years while testifying in US government hearings? Being sworn in is meaningless. Being subpoenaed is meaningless, it's ok if you just don't show up, no problem. They should be arresting people left and right.
13
@bill
Not a lawyer but my understanding is a witness who corrects his or her testimony before the proceeding is over will not be charged with perjury.
4
One supposes, 'tongue-in-cheek', it must have been the first time in USA history, whether in domestic or international arena, that a Quid pro Quo was ever practiced, therefore it constitutes a ground for impeachment... right?
(again - 'tongue-in-cheek' of course...)
Not if it’s used to manufacture a phony investigation of a political rival.
Ambassador Sondland now says he recalls a September conversation with Andriy Yermak, an assistant to President Zelensky, in which he “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.” But Sondland said he had merely come to “presume that the aid suspension has become linked to the proposed anticorruption statement” because Rudolph Giuliani was pushing for an investigation. He did not say the president, the White House or the State Department set conditions on the aid.
In other words, he made a prediction that turned out to be wrong. The White House released the aid even though Ukraine did not make a public statement.
Sondland did not say the president, the White House or the State Department set conditions on military aid. He did not amend the key part of his original testimony in which he said: “I do not recall any discussions with the White House on withholding U.S. security assistance from Ukraine in return for assistance with the President’s 2020 re-election campaign.” He said when he heard speculation that security assistance would be denied unless Ukraine agreed to investigate Burisma, “I called President Trump directly. I asked the President: ‘What do you want from Ukraine.’ President responded, ‘Nothing. There is no quid pro quo.’ The President repeated: ‘no quid pro quo multiple times.’”
2
@William Case
The only reason the Ukraine funding was finally released was because the bipartisan senate subcommittee (Lindsey Graham was on the committee), who had been trying to find out for months why it had not been released and who were rightfully concerned, attached a special pool amendment to a 2020 Defense Spending Bill to make sure the money would finally be released. The day before the vote on the bill, the money was released. Trump ordered the money frozen on July 25th. It was finally released on September 11th.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, our ally, was under threat from Russia.
Facts matter, comrade.
8
Quid pro quo? ... who cares? Most americans don’t know and don’t care to know what that means. What it really was is EXTORTION in plain sight. And that is a CRIME easily rising to the level of an impeachable offense. Period. The Dems need to move on with it and by pass trump’s endless ‘muddying the water’
13
Isn't it interesting how sunlight and the threat to sycophants' reputations reveal the stench of Trump and his administration?
7
The pattern is discernible. Trump convinces people to break the law for him. Then they see how much trouble they are in. Then they roll over on Trump to reduce the penalties. He's down to a skeleton crew of people willing to do his bidding, now,. Pretty soon, he'll have the people who care for the White House, his family, and a lot of unoccupied room.
6
Revised his statement? When will we start bringing perjury charges against these people? Other than it's the right thing to do, what incentive do these Trump protectors have for telling the truth?
Just roll the dice and lie. If you're caught, revise your statement!
I'm trying to think how my parents would have reacted 30 years ago if I decided to revise my statement about that party that didn't happen while they were out of town.
8
@Robert
Possible obstruction as well.
2
So he lied in his original testimony, and now he corrected it because there was evidence that he lied. Who is responsible for making sure that he is prosecuted for lying to Congress under oath?
9
Sondland rats on Trump.
Trump seems to think that he's some kind of mob boss with an organization of soldiers who grew up believing in keeping silent and going to jail. Trump is not like that and neither are the twits who he expects to cover for him. They all believe in making money, not spending time in orange jump suits -- although the less vigilant ones may.
10
favors, quid pro quo, bribery... otherwise known as crime
3
It's probably too late but can The Times ditch the term "Quid Pro Quo" and call it what it is? Bribery.
15
Bribery, pure and simple.
11
I don’t think the Trump campaign will be printing and distributing “Refresh Your Memory” T-shirts to add to the “Witch Hunt” collection.
6
@ShawnO
Or the “Read the Transcript” t- shirts at his rally the other day.
Trumpeters seem to be clueless idol worshippers
3
Can’t wait to hear what Rudy “Facts aren’t facts, Cousins aren’t cousins”
Giuliani has to say after Sondland has fingered him as impersonating a US government official to defraud foreign entities.
8
Expecting this response from Trump:
"if there was a quid pro quo, it's Sondland's fault, not mine. I had no idea he was pushing a quid pro quo"
5
Your king got caught cheating. Again. Is he the best you can put forward?
2
and you never will...
Senator Geary: “Mr. Cici, was there always a buffer invoked?”
Willie Cici: “A what?”
Senator Geary: “A buffer. Someone in between you and your possible superiors who passed on to you the actual order...?”
Willie Cici: “Oh yeah, a buffer. The family had a lot of buffers!”
3
@Noel S “Oh yeah, I remember now...I was in the olive oil business with his father.”
2
Wonderful comment!
Sondland? Never heard of him. Witch hunt. Perfect phone call. Fake news. Socialists. No quid pro quo. Who's the whistle blower? Lock her up. Mexico will pay for it. Make America Great Again. You're fired. Sue me. Bone spurs. I didn't do it, Mommy! Donnie want ice cream. Goo.
11
Please, please, please NYT, stop interviewing Lindsay Graham for anything related to Trump. He’s nothing more than a mouthpiece and you’re not doing your job trotting him out as proof of your objectivity.
16
@Kathleen
Every time I see Lindsey Graham’s name I wonder what Trump (or Putin) has on him. Must be something big.
6
Don show your taxes - No
Don reveal the tapes - No
Don have you ever told the truth - No
Don do you know Vladimir Putin - No
well kinda
4
When Sondland did not want to disclose, ten hours of testimony did not bring out key facts. When he wanted to disclose, a four page memo was enough.
Appeal to others who will testify in future: Get to the point. With every passing day, Trump is doing more damage. The sooner he can be removed, the better.
4
Trump committed bribery, plain and simple by any reasonable definition of the crime. Trump asked for a personal favor in leu of a payment. No need to resort to Latin, based on sworn testimony Trump’s actions fit the crime of bribery.
7
Quid Pro Quo is merely the tools of the crime as the Trump team is very effectively confusing the case. Trump conspired to sabotage an American election. He didn't ask for an endorsement for himself. He sought to sabotage the election.
I find it is no coincidence that both Trump and Zelensky who are Television actors, conspired with one another. Was Zelensky a Russian intermediary? Don't just focus on parts of the conversation that interest you. Analyze those you might have glossed over.
1
Not the first time I’ve seen a witness avoid a perjury conviction by revising his testimony.
He must be far smarter than he looks.
6
The words “quid pro quo” are not found in our constitution. BRIBERY, however, is the first impeachable offense listed. Concentrate on that if you want a conviction in the Senate.
11
The Intelligence Committee is beating around the bush. They must ask, and soon, why all of Trump's roads lead to Russia and his quisling loyalty to Putin.
Asking for Russian assistance with stolen emails. Dealing with Julian Assange, essentially a Russian operative himself. Boot licking dictators of all stripes and countries. Abandoning Syria and Turkey to the Russians....Weakening western Europe to allow Russian advantage, power and influence. Implying that the Crimea should actually be Russian, and likely assisting them to have a warm water port in the Middle East.
And now, proceeding with some conspiracy flim-flam about the Ukraine being the source of election interference. Trump, for all practical purposes, is a Russian asset, knowingly or unknowingly.
That's the most important direction for these hearings to proceed toward, with an Article of Impeachment being treason and favoring our enemies over our allies.
7
Never underestimate your enemy.
The witnesses are running the investigation much to the discredit of the Democrats.
2
Mike Pompeo is great. We seldom see his name in those articles about the Ukraine scandal. He knew it's a risk of big trouble; Better safe than sorry.
1
It's very interesting that John Bolton referred to Trump and Rudy's scheme as a "drug deal". Anyone who has ever bought drugs on the street (or watched an episode of The Wire) knows that you give the money to one guy, who directs you to a different person down the block that hands you the dope. That way, if the cops roll up, nobody is caught with both drugs and money in their possession. It creates a layer of insulation, so to speak. Harder to get distribution charges to stick.
It would seem that Trump and Rudy were playing the same sort of game. The two of them privately hash out their plan. Then Trump freezes the aid and tells Sondland and co. to "talk to Rudy", who fills in the details on the so-called "deliverables". That way the whole message gets across, and if anything goes wrong, each person can individually claim they weren't behind any quid pro quo... even though their combined efforts clearly create one.
12
Maybe I'm a realist, perhaps a cynic, but 40% of American voters will continue to support Trump despite his obvious criminality. Why? Why, we all ask. It's always my default subconscious reaction. But, then my rational mind intervenes and reviews the history of the USA to include (in no particular order) the genocide (on the par of almost any historical genocide) of Native Americans, Slavery, defended to the death by white supremacists, the Mexican American War, the Spanish American War, the Vietnam War, the 50's Red Scare, Bush 2's Iraq War, Nixon and Kissenger (remember Cambodia?} Reagan holding American hostages until his ascendancy (that was Iran-Contra). Cheney, yesterday, today and (god help us) probably tomorrow. The enormous popularity of Fox News and hate radio. All this and more adds up to a flawed nation, with many, many voters for a long. long time willing to believe any nonsense, follow any charlatan to gain some real or imagined economic benefit as long as they can identify with strength and power. Someday, and I hope that day never comes, we may have to look in the mirror as Germany had to do and denounce our hubris. Trump is our final exam;if he remains in office after 2020, the American (no matter how flawed) experiment will have failed. For good. We must get involved, we must volunteer, we must contribute in some way in order to save America from its worst instincts and that 40%.
21
The goal posts keep moving. If Trump shot somebody on 5th Ave., Republicans would whine that's not an impeachable offense either.
9
An interesting story would be "why" Mr. Sondland suddenly got his memory back. I hope NYTimes reporters and others will follow up with him about his miraculous cure.
9
It is strange to be living UkraineGate, just after RussiaGate. It is also strange that this crime boss in the white house has a strong chance of being re-elected, not because he is a good president, but because the stock markets remain high.
If you keep an eye on Fox, the revelation that multiple witnesses back the whistleblower's complaint has not really made it into their News. At least they are not exploring Sondland or Volker's testimony for evidence of guilt, just evidence that republicans can 'muddy' the waters. Otherwise, they are too busy covering the stunning reactions of republicans, reporters, Fox News hosts and anyone else to the impeachment of a liar and crook.
6
Really glad the so-called president and the gops in the Congress demanded the release of the transcripts. The gops really thought this out well.
Now we can all directly read about the so-called president's quid pro quo, extortion and other misuse of taxpayer dollars.
4
How does the President's efforts to unduly influence the outcome of the 2020 election different from the parents involved in the college admissions scandal? Both are either using (or used) the tools available to them to cheat their way to a desired outcome. The parents are being convicted. What about the President?
7
The Republicans are going to need a lot bigger bus to hold all the people they plan on throwing under there. And if they decide that someone is trump, they'd better start looking at a custom lift kit for that bus because they are going to need a lot of clearance.
3
“I said that resumption of the U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anticorruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks,” Mr. Sondland said in the document, which was released by the House committees leading the inquiry, along with the transcript of his original testimony from last month."
(Corruption is not unknown in Ukraine. The current President is a comedian who starred in an anti-corruption TV series. He then turned oligarchs out of office. What was meant by a "public anti-corruption statement"? Looks like one was due. Corruption is a public issue in Ukraine. Why try to blame Trump? What does Hunter's earning $600,000 annually as a Burisma board member look like? My recollection is that the IMF or World Bank publicly warned Ukraine about the need to do more to handle corruption.)
3
How do we know the sudden pull out from Syria wasn't a personal deal similar to what Trump was doing in Ukraine? Did the U.S. abrumptly pull out of Syria as "payment" for a political or business favor or service Trump was personally receiving from Turkey or Russia? How will we know if there is or isn't a Trump personal side deal at work in U.S. international affairs in the future? The answer to all of these questions is we don't know and we won't know. This is why Trump should be impeached and removed from office. The thing we do know is he can't be trusted. He put himself ahead of the country and he will likely do it again.
8
@MJL
Trump is compromised.
He is a threat to the integrity of our election process.
He is a threat to our national security.
3
Yes, yes, and yes
1
So there was a Quid Pro Quo just as suspected.
Trump's mantra over and over again for the last few weeks trying to exonerate himself: "No quid pro quo!"
He tried to use the same defense tactic mantra "no collusion" he used in the Mueller investigation.
7
That ambassadorship I bought to impress my friends is sure costing me more than I thought it would. Next time, I'll just buy another Bentley.
10
Still no smoking gun. Fortunately this will be over and done with by Christmas and we can move on to consequential matters like health care reform.
1
if you still can’t see a smoking gun(s), I hope you have a great seeing eye dog because there’s a billowing cloud emanating from Congress with every witness’s testimony.
6
@David H
What kind of news, if it were reported, would be a smoking gun for you?
3
If there’s no smoking gun, then I’m the Archbishop of Canterbury
5
The Ukraine quid pro quo and the intensity surrounding it's investigation is gaslighting a much larger issue. That being the pattern of Trump's behavior which appears individually and in its totality to be enhancing Putin's efforts in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and in intervening in western elections and doing so at the cost of our own decades long foreign policy. No one in their right mind could possibly miss the impact on us and them of strangling Ukraine's military support even if the quid pro quo had not existed. That it was something as asinine as political dirt makes it even more heinous.
I hope the current investigation finishes all the incomplete trails remaining in the Mueller work.
4
Next, I expect Trump to say, "Sondland? I've never heard of him..." Except that in 2017, Sondland donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee through four of his limited liability companies, which paid off well for him - Trump nominated him to be US ambassador to the European Union the following year.
4
The Republicans and Trumpsters are claiming that Trump only sought that the new government of Ukraine investigate its own internal corruption, and if they did that then the US would provide the military aid already appropriated by Congress. Such a decision by the President is lawful and entirely appropriate, they claim. There are at least three problems with this claim. One, why was there need for Guiliani to be involved? Two, why did Trump want Zelensky to investigate Crowdstrike and find the "server", meaning investigate whether it was Ukraine and not the Russians who intervened in the 2016 US election? Three, why did Trump want Zelensky to meet with Barr and Guiliani, and look into Biden and Biden's son? It is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump used Guiliani to bypass the State Dept. to look for evidence that it was Ukraine and not Russia who intervened in the 2016 election; that Trump, Guiliani, Barr and willing conspirators in the State Dept. were using military aid and a WH meeting with Zelensky to bribe the Ukrainians; the intent of the bribe was a public announcement by Zelensky that Ukraine was investigating the Bidens and whether Ukraine was the "real" source of the Russian hacks in 2016 as part of a general anti-corruption probe. Zelensky makes the announcement, he gets his WH meeting and the aid flows. If not for the whistleblower and a couple of Senators who asked about the aid, the conspiracy would have been successful.
4
The GOP are essentially men who have abandoned any resistance to gluttony and dark living, they have given in to temptation over and over again with Trump and are so far down the tunnel they can no longer sense light. To defend Trump still is to admit how far they've fallen.
5
Sondland is going to take the blame just like manafort and Cohen, is trump will not be implicated directly. Who is he fooling?
3
Sondland learned the most important lesson every minion needs to know ... when you get caught red-handed, the best thing to do is cop to it and work your way out of the hole, not dig it deeper ...
... someone on Trump's staff should clue him in that he's about to be buried in a cave-in when the rest of his minions stop digging.
2
With a video graphic claiming "Among Republicans, 92% oppose his removal from office", the President just tweeted "Thank you so much CLUB 45. You are truly Great Americans. See you in Florida!"
The video was from NBC TODAY Show. I don't know if it was accompanied with a counter-point segment, but it was a total powderpuff piece. A bonifide Trump infomercial on a major network (other than the Faux News network) selling:
Cult 45, Home of the "Brave New World".
Upon Sondland testifying to quid pro quo, the Republican Party has moved-on to Plan C: HIT THE AIRWAVES with "Every single person that we spoke to say that they like the man. He's not a traditional politician and he speaks to them directly."
Shame on you, NBC. Your part in this BLATANT POLITICAL MESSAGING on behalf of a Republican Party stooping to the creation a United States of Dystopia will not be forgotten.
6
Considering the ability of Mr. Trump and his sycophants to understand language it seem to me that Trump and his base never understood what Quid Pro Quo even means. Throwing a little Latin at this group of business Thugs it zipped right past them. A look at Trumps business practices would tell us all that he understands getting something of value, but the idea that he pays back some how never came to mind. Rudy and the other lawyers must know, but they are just hired liers so don't hold your breath for them to come around till it's there necks on the line. Looks like that will come soon enough.
2
How exciting. More testimony showing that there is no direct proof, no smoking gun, of the Democrats' allegations. Must be terribly disappointing to the Times newsroom (and the Tomes' readers). Me, I can hardly wait to see the transcripts of Biden's threats and the email and testimony of Biden's staff. Do you think any of them warned Joe that it's not enough that Caesar's wife be actually pure?
1
I’m more concerned about the rollbacks allowing industry to dump in our water. That’s what voters should think about next November. Of course Trump will lose the people’s vote but not the electoral. Which is my big concern.
3
@HMI
Distract-Deflect-Attack
That’s all you got, comrade, besides a president and his team plotting to have a foreign government interfere in our ejections, the very basis of our democracy.
Trump us compromised.
Trump is a national security threat.
1
@HMI, right. All those testifying that there was abuse of power and they all must be lying. After all, who would you believe, a president who avoided the Vietnam War by claiming he had bone spurs, or someone like Vindman who's a decorated war veteran. Keep hiding your head in the sand. Sad....
2
Does that un-purger himself from his prior lies? I think he should find a room with Cohen and the others.
5
I'd like to make a 'substantial change' to my life history if I may. Now that I have refreshed my memory, I'm 20 rather than 60. I'm aryan and male. Anything else you might have gleaned from my comments is fake news, and anyway that was weeks ago. Seriously - Who even remembers September 2019?
4
Well, Mr. Soudland I hope you're ready to be trashed by Trump and his cronies.
4
What kills me is that I have to read ad nauseam all the NYT articles about why dems can't go too far left because they will lose the crucial swing (white) vote. Why not post an article about these precious voters being A-OK with the destruction of our democracy, the environment, their own health, etc, etc, as they lack the intelligence or moral capacity to see beyond their assumed benefit with trump as their president?
6
Trump's life and presidency is nothing more than
a "den of iniquity".
3
So what just happened here? Did Sondland finally wake up and relaize he could be hung out to dry for lying under oath to protect Donald Trump (who would certainly never stand up for him)? Did Sondland suddenly wake up after an episode of amnesia? This nasty cauldrom of toil and trouble is totally a Republican brew.
5
Your president, maybe, not mine.
4
So Pence knew all about the plan to extort the Ukraine. He was and is there in the center of the whole gangster mess. His Holiness, Vice President Pence, also is trying to bring the Ukraine Orthodox Church back into the fold of Mother Russia, as Putin wants it to be, also for election purposes. This fully explains Pence’s overseas trifecta of trips to Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey. These people never learn do they?
4
So it seems that Sondland’s first testimony was up to par and swirled around the hole and off the green. Then Schiff told Sondland it’s okay to take a “mulligan”....
2
Sondland, after his initial testimony, had second thoughts as to whether he could get away in conveniently forgetting about the quid pro quo, so he fessed up by amending his sworn testimony.
It's getting to the point that no official of the Trump administration is to be believed.
Liar Liar Pants Afire!
2
Looking forward to DJT's "You're fired!" moment. Then he can go off and start his church of wealth or w/e his next grift is going to be. Jailhouse cigarette dealer, maybe?
1
It’s just mind boggling.
What if police officer interrogated suspect “Did you murder the victim by blowing him up with black gun poder?” “No!”
Then a few days later suspect has his lawyer - “ my client says yes he did blow the jerk up with 2 pounds of explosives, Judy to correct the record,”
WHAAAAAT?!
Perjury a serious jail sentence offense.
2
All together now:
LOCK HIM UP!
5
When does a “substantial revision” of sworn testimony become
perjury? Ooh Ooh, I know, pick me. NOW
2
These doughy white men who've tied their wagons to Trump are sort of sad. Tillerson. Kelly. The ones in jail. Soon Pompeo, Barr, Giuliani. Maybe Mnuchin. Don't they see what's coming their way?
4
Conspiracy to conspire ... Republicans are evil to the core. Anyone and everyone who supports their criminality is as amoral and worthless as this legion of felons. What a shock that 50% of this country is as vile and worthless as Trump. America cannot stand: THAT is what is now obvious to the world.
3
Countdown to next whiny Trump-Tweet "Sondland is a radical leftwing Never-Trumper, wtc"... 10, 9, 8, ...
3
Trump and GOP say: No QOQ!!
Ambassador charges story: Yes, QPQ.
Trump and GOO say: So what? Get over it!
1
IMPEACH TRUMP
4
Sondland realizes he blew $1M on Trump and his vapid family. Trump probably laughed his butt off at Sondland. Doug Manchester of San Diego, also gave Trump $1M for an Ambassadorship to Bermuda which never came to fruition. Where do these people come from that they really fall for a scam artist like Trump?
6
Ambassador Sondland, seeing that loyalty is a one-way street for Mr. Trump, probably realized that he’d be without a chair once the music stopped.
60
@JCAZ
Clearly, there are many in Trump's inner circle of "boot lickers" who are not familiar with "musical chairs.
4
These people claim that a murder by the president wouldn't be a murder. Naturally they will also claim that quid pro quo is not an impeachable offense. Of course only yesterday "there was no quid pro quo," but facts are fluid; they flow and change and conform to the contours of the container. In Trump's case, hopefully that will be the walls of a jail cell.
49
@JB I believe this is what KellyAnne would refer to as 'alternative facts'.
2
@JB
Trump thinks that misrepresenting the truth is cool, that it shows how unconfined by old rules is he. His lawyers are repeating their clients' view that the President has a non-expiring get out of jail card covering all criminal offenses. Childish nonsense, and the lawyers know it. If he commits crimes that are unrelated to the duties of a President, he's just as likely to be prosecuted as is anyone.
1
So many chips, I'm bedazzled.
9
I "refreshed my recollection".
Translation: I lied last time.
72
No doubt the fear of a perjury prosecution for his earlier statement to Congress has convinced Mr. Sondland that further fabrications on behalf of Trump are not worth it. How many days/hours until Trump disavows ever making Sondland's acquaintance ?
36
The house needs to exercise its authority and prosecute those who are not being truthful during their testimony and those who fail to appear for subpoenas. Then people will show up.
When will enough proof be sufficient for Republicans to see how terrible it is for our country to back this man?
31
It is illegal for someone running for Federal Office to solicit help, to solicit anything of value, from a foreign government. Period. (There is a Federal Law that says that.)Trump has certainly done this, in public with Russia (2016) and China (2019), and in a phone call to the Ukraine President. It would be like President Washington asking King George for evidence that Hamilton did something wrong during the Revolution to keep Hamilton from running against Washington..
33
@Roger Duronio . Now do Obama, Hillary, the DNC IN 2016.
2
@Cjmesq0
Schoolyard garbage of the “I’m rubber you’re glue” kind. Contempt for others, the truth, and the law, and for normal standards of maturity and self-respect, is one of the chief hallmarks of Trump and his cult followers.
3
Good Lord.
Sondland acknowledges straight up front in his "updated" testimony that he only "presumed" there was a connection between any delay in aid and investigations. In the only conversation he had with Trump on the issue, he was clearly instructed that there was not to be a quid pro quo.
If Sondland nonetheless, based purely on his own speculation as to the reason for a delay, communicated to Ukraine that he thought there was, or might be connection, how is that laid at Trump's door?
Sondland at most communicated only his own speculation. That's on him, not Trump.
The hysteria raised by this situation is quite a sight to behold.
2
It sounds like you didn’t read his statement, where he clearly stated that a white goose visit was conditioned on “satisfying Mr. Giuliani”, which he explains means Zelensky making a public statement about Burisma. Mr. Sondland directly communicates this to a top Zelensky advisor, again by his own admission, while on a diplomatic trip with the Vice President.
It’s possible the president knew nothing about any of this, but come on.
3
@Joseph Rhodes
So now the quid pro quo is for some entirely optional visit with Trump which could take place any time?
Not exactly earthshaking.
1
1) The public and the media, for many months, referred to the Republican actions (as discussed in the Mueller report) as "
"collusion". They accepted trump's label when they should have used the proper legal term to press the case legally (i.e., the inherent strategy may have been to reference a term which would, arguably, fit under the header of impeachment via a charge of obstruction of justice, an actual crime) rather than to be colloquial and discuss the Republican actions with a legal-rooted vocabulary.
The public and the media are making this mistake again by using "quid pro quo" rather "bribery" (or similar legal term) as the case calls for. Rather than helping to build a proper legal case by putting the Republican actions in a legal context, they are getting carried away by using a tough to pronounce phrase which is NOT understood in the heartland of the US.
Please use the term "bribery" or the legal term under which these actions will be prosecuted, don't use a Latinate phrase to do the work of common parlance. After denominating the term, denominate the legal tests for the crime and whether or not the tests will be met by the actions of the defendants.
Trump seized upon quid pro quo, so the media has already lost the initial 100 battles and will have to work to contextualize the Republican actions.
2) trump is calling for an illegal action: outing the whistle-blower's identity. Why can't the media point out that this is a crime in progress and in plain sight?
34
If Trump did not suggest that Ukraine should investigate Biden, then he would not have been doing what we elected him to do. Due diligence of corruption related to foreign aid is part of a presidential responsibility.
Biden just happened to be the most visible and public example of corruption in Ukraine given his public statements about firing the prosecutor who was investigating his son's company.
The fact that Biden is a Democrat, a presidential candidate, and even a political rival of Trump's does not immunize him from corruption investigations promoted by Trump as part of his official presidential duties.
3
@Dan
Total silliness. There are no substantiated (meaning, based on any public evidence thus far) allegations against Biden or his son. Any corruption Biden may have been involved with would be domestic, not international and not "Ukraine corruption". If Trump were really concerned about Biden and corruption with regard to the 2016 election, he and the DOJ would have started an investigation in 2017. But they didn't—they only suggested one AFTER Biden became a political contender for the presidency. That means that Trump, as a PUBLIC SERVANT, not as himself, invoked foreign policy powers only available to the executive, a PUBLIC SERVANT for ALL Americans (not just the ones who voted for him) against a domestic political rival....
And the Constitution makes it very clear that is illegal.
2
@Dan
Dan, do you make it a habit of lying for your friends?
2
@Dan -- Nice try! Aren't you people tired of twisting your brain into a pretzel in order to absolve your president? Shoken, the Ukranian prosecutor was asked to leave by Biden on behalf of the United States and also at the request of other nations, in 2016. It was thought that Shoken was too soft on corruption. Hunter Biden and Burisma were investigated in 2014 and the prosecutor found no wrong doing.
3
If the essence of Trumps defense is that there was no quid pro quo, that acknowledges that that is itself the crime. What is unravelling is that there was indeed a quid pro quo and therefore it follows that there was a crime. It would be nice if the 37% could take a course in logic.
19
If Republican Senators are going to say, that there was a "quid pro quo" but it's not serious enough to impeach, then Democrats should continue their investigations, even if it runs through next year and file multiple Articles of Impeachment.
19
Subpoena Trump’s secret conversations with Putin. Did Putin ask Trump to implicate Ukraine in election interference and to withhold military aid. Both scenarios benefit Russia and are plausible. By the way, does anyone find it interesting that Trump never criticizes Putin or Russia? That is fishy.
19
@Time - Space - when the news broke about the Steele dossier and its speculation that Trump was acting on behalf of Russia due to their possession of "kompromat" about him, I thought it was totally far-fetched and unbelievable. Now, having seen everything that has happened over the last three years (and in particular the past few months), I'm finding it difficult to draw any other conclusion. Nancy certainly hit the nail on the head in saying "all roads lead to Putin" with him.
1
Pelosi: “all roads lead to Putin with you.”
1
@Time - Space
His goal is to boost Russia back to a world power. Get sanctions dropped, attendance at the G-7(or 8?), and for Trump, a gleaming tower in Moscow.
If you can lay it all off on Ukraine, bingo!
1
Being thrown under the bus by Sondland to save himself is just the beginning of Trump's bussing experience. As they say what goes around comes around. Trump has thrown many people under the bus to save himself.
Pay back will begin when his nefarious friends like Sondland outs him to protect themselves. As the impeachment inquiry gets hotter so will his GOP enablers. While it means shorter jail time for his friends, for his GOP enablers it hopefully means new careers as one Murdoch's minions and/or faux analysts.
13
It matters not what bureaucrats say. It matters what the president says. More importantly, it matters what the president "intended."
According to Trump and Zelenksy -- the only two parties to the actual conversation -- there was no quid pro quo over Biden's son. There was no aid withheld, nor was there every any quid pro quo provided.
This is another case where democrats want to focus on words and not deeds. Good luck with that.
3
@AACNY
But the aid WAS withheld. It was delayed for two months before being released. And sure, we can say now that Ukraine eventually got it, but back in June and July, we'd be saying it was withheld.
And it matters ENTIRELY what the bureaucrats say. They are the ones who hammer out the details and set specific terms of an agreement. And something like this would NOT be done on their own--they'd be getting direction from above.
It amazes me how gullible some people are.
9
@AACNY It's pretty clear the president intended to extort Ukraine in an attempt to get them to smear a political rival. That's why they tried to hide the transcript of the call in a secure server.
6
@AACNY
The words themselves ARE the deed.
5
Trump is untouchable. He is supported by two of the three departments of government.
2
If there were any justice to this, we would be talking about raising funds to build a new prison to incarcerate every look the other way enabler involved with this blatant crime spree. Let's get on with this, please.
9
LA Times had a different headline today:"Envoy changes story, says he told Ukrainians that U.S. aid was linked to launching investigation"
So the obvious question is, "Was he lying then or is he lying now? And when will he change his story again? Why should anyone believe him in any case now that he's proven that we can't take his word on anything?" Agreed, it's a defense used over and over, but at least it's consistent. I think any and all of them would climb a tree to tell a lie rather than stand on the ground to tell the truth. But then again, as always, people hear what they want to hear and believe what they want to believe. Personally, I put my trust in single malt Scotch.
5
I am frustrated with reporters and talking heads summarizing what someone said. I want to read the actual words a person uttered. Reporters are constantly saying that a link has now been established, but they make the link themselves. Please give us the actual words of those who supposedly have made the link absolutely clear.
14
@Paul Read the transcripts. There are links to them within this article.
12
@Paul Let me add: also give us the audio of Trump's phone call to the Ukrainian president. Not a transcript (probably manipulated), but the audio please.
13
I think there is a link to a transcript in the article.
1
The penalties for perjury are apparently a powerful memory stimulant maybe more than an substance found in jellyfish!
26
Assuming the House votes for articles of impeachment, the tide of public opinion is necessary to sway the Senate to give Trump a fair trial and convict him if the evidence shows he is guilty of a high crime or misdemeanor. The Senate is unable to do this on its own.
3
I'm shocked, *shocked*, that more would come out supporting the charge of trump's bribery.
And:
"In his closed-door interview last month, Mr. Sondland portrayed himself as a well-meaning and at times unwitting player who was trying to conduct American foreign policy with Ukraine with the full backing of the State Department while Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, repeatedly inserted himself at the behest of the president."
It looks like "America's Mayor" is the fall guy. America's Mayor is going to jail.
19
Not surprised at all. I knew this guy was lying as soon as he decided to stop texting about the negotiations, as to eliminate a record of it.
22
@ST - exactly. The thing I find so amusing about all this is that if it were an actual criminal trial - let's pretend it's one where the identity of the defendant is concealed, to eliminate potential partisan bias - the totality of the evidence would convince any jury beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a plot to withhold aid and a White House visut to try and force these sham investigations. If you could remove the political orientation of the key players from the picture, I know that any rational person would look at all the evidence (depositons, text messages, reconstructed transcript, etc.) and only be able to come to one reasonable conclusion. To try and claim otherwise requires an extreme suspension of plausibility. Yet, since it is Trump and his Republican staff and allies that perpetrated this scheme, the only possibility in their minds is the one that would otherwise be an enormous stretch. If the tables were turned here, GOP members of congress would be on an absolute rampage. What a strange time to be alive!
2
Unless I'm missing something, doesn't this prove that Pence knew and was actively supporting the strong-arming tactic? Doesn't this mean that he should be impeached, too?
48
@Leslie
Why yes—it certainly does. And we can add Pompeo to the "amigos" while we're at it.
3
Can we not forget that anytime someone refers to the "transcript" of the call that it is only a summary and not the actual transcript? When are they going to go into that super protected server and extract the exact audio of the call in all it's unvarnished glory? What does it take to do that? Saving it to a server reserved for the highest state secrets isn't the act of innocent persons.
19
@A. Xak
I don't think they keep an audio recording of these conversations.
Trumps secretary erased the call by mistake by pressing down on a button on the floor with her foot.
@Norm Vinson
For 18-1/2 minutes.
We need to stop framing this as ‘digging up dirt on a political opponent’.. that’s not what happened and it makes it sound like Biden did something wrong in the first place. What he wanted a public announcement of an investigation from Ukraine’s leader which would have given validity to a conspiracy theory.. aka asking a foreign government to conspire to delegitimize our election.
21
@Laura - I've noticed that the Washington Post has recently phrased it as "manufacturing" or "creating" dirt to smear his political opponent, which is far more accurate.
9
i don't understand how anyone can think this is not impeachable. This is unbelievable, makes watergate look like minor league offense ( at least they were targeting americans ). Trump would never have figured out this on his own, he is already getting advice from other outsiders. BTW, he will soon change his residence to Moscow.
19
@Jeff Bryan
First, this is nothing like Watergate. Second, there are many experts who believe this doesn't rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Remember, these are second hand interpretations --opinions, really -- being repeated as "facts".
NYT readers have convinced themselves this is the "big one", just as they did with Russian collusion.
2
So we’re now officially, officially done with calling the quid pro quo “fake news”. Got it. Glad that we’ve established this so Trump can now tell us that quid pro quo happens all the time in politics and demonstrates the shrewd negotiating acumen Democrats can only dream of. The rest of the GOP will run with it and the swindling and gaslighting of the American public will continue as per usual.
22
Undoubtedly Republicans' final line of defense will be that pressuring foreign leaders to interfere in US elections is every President's patriotic duty.
18
@Tim Robert I think their first line of defense will be: "So what? Probably not a good idea to pressure foreign leaders into interfering with US elections, but not an impeachable offense".
3
@alabreabreal For sure, now that "quid pro quo" is fairly well established, that will be the next step for them.
I only read about half of the deposition, but I only read that Sondland knew that Trump would only see the President of Ukraine at the White House if he learned that the new government of Ukraine was working on reducing corruption in their country. That's all that Sondland (half-way into the deposition) reported that he knew. He said that Trump told him and others to talk to Giuliani about the problem in Ukraine, but Giuliani only spoke of Trump needing a reduction of corruption in Ukraine for a White House meeting. I don't consider Sondland to be a good source for Trump's misdeeds.
1
@jdmcox Something tells me you'd consider nothing and nobody a good source for Trump's misdeeds.
If you read the account in the WSJ you’ll notice how Republicans don’t see anything at all wrong with the Ukraine affair. So that just tells me that people see what you hey want to see and it has nothing to do with level of education.
5
Want to bet that the next thing Trump says is effectively, "So, what?" ? First it was, 'we did not ask for dirt', then it was, 'even if we did, so what?, it was not conditional to releasing funds', then it was, 'read the transcript' after providing a redacted transcript....it is always slip and slide.
9
Initially, Sonderland thought it was all about Squid Pro Quo, a simple seafood exchange. Understandable mistake.
13
At the time trump allegedly engaged in a quid pro quo, biden was not confirmed to be his electoral opponent. Does anyone know if this would dampen charges of election interference? (E.g., "how could trump be interfering in an election if the person targetted by his quid pro quo isn't even an electable candidate????")
1
@Gershom - how is Biden not an "electable candidate"? He's leading in the Democratic polls, and Trump has been publicly commenting (on Twitter and on camera) about his campaign and possible candidacy since earlier this year.
6
@Gershom Trump is dumb. Not that dumb.
1
@Gershom
The 2020 presidential campaign of Joe Biden began on April 25.
Yeah, Sondland straight up lied in the earlier deposition, then.
Pg 197, Mr. Castor: "And you had never thought there was a precondition to the aid. Is that correct?"
Mr. Sondland: "Never, no. I mean, I was dismayed when it was held up, but I didn't know why."
I mean, in his revised statement, he still claims that "I did not know (and still do not know) when, why, or by whom the aid was suspended." Why, then, did he tell Yermak that the aid was conditioned on a public anti-corruption statement?
9
Maybe he doesn't want to go to jail for Trump. He thought about it, looked at the Trump guys already behind bars and decided life in Portland as a free man is the better choice.
11
Enough of the Quid Pro Quo! Call it what it is: BRIBERY and EXTORTION. It was illegal and it needs to be identified as such.
24
What Sondland said is not quid pro quo. It was an opinion of him of what Giuliani wanted and may not be exactly what Trump wanted. There was no assertion anywhere that unless Ukraine start investigation of Biden, the aid won't be released. Trump most likely wanted an investigation of Biden's alleged corrupt activities over there and his aids like Giuliani and Sondland might have created an impression that to get the aid Ukraine has to start an investigation. But there was no compulsion to start the investigation to get the aid. The proof is that there was no investigation and the aid was released. Anyway, this is not an impeachable issue to put the country in to a divisive fight.
2
@ Alex E
The only reason the Ukraine funding was finally released was because the bipartisan senate subcommittee (Lindsey Graham was on the committee), who had been trying to find out for months why it had not been released and who were rightfully concerned, attached a special amendment to a 2020 Defense Spending Bill to make sure the money would finally be released. The day before the vote on the bill, the money was released. Trump ordered the money frozen on July 25th. It was finally released on September 11th.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, our ally, was under threat from Russia.
Facts matter.
12
@Alex E
Somebody has to say it.
1
@Alex E
And, naturally, you would have the same interpretation had it been Obama asking for the "favor" from Zelinsky, had it been Obama withholding aid from Ukraine, or had Obama's advisers "creating an impression" that the boss wants this investigation or you don't get your dough. Yeah, right.
The Trump apologists have sold the country down the toilet. They got their tax cuts, conservative judges, and deregulation. They lost their integrity, patriotism, and ability to discern right from wrong.
1
Not sure which way this guys is headed, is he first trying to tell us that the quid pro quo was a kind of side thought or an outright attempt to blackmail/bribe a foreign government to do what Drumpf demands?
I think a little of both "there was a quid pro quo, but it wasn't meant to turn out that way, but it did"
Either way Sonderland paints himself as one in the middle of an international criminal act.
2
@nzierler
And lying, under oath, to congress or to a congressional committee is a serious crime. The power granted by the constitution should be used judiciously.
In the case of Sondland, let it be used!
Make an example of him to any others who would lie under oath to congress!
5
This might have been news-worthy three weeks ago, but the transcript this is all about has been released to the public since then.
It's almost like the corrupted progressive media are praying none of their trainees go read up on what Pres. Trump ACTUALLY said.
2
@L osservatore we don't know that because the Trump admin only released a redacted transcript. But fortunately there were several people listening in on the call who testified to what was said.
2
@L osservatore
Really? Its not newsworthy that Sondland JUST TODAY revised his testimony of three weeks ago? A revision that says something totally different?
And if Trump was really SURE there was nothing wrong with what he "actually" said—the White House would release the verbatim AUDIO transcript for us to see how "perfect" it really was...... right?
3
@L osservatore Perhaps you could ask Trump what he ACTUALLY said. I'm sure he'll tell you.
4
Remarkable what the threat of hard time will do for one's memory....
11
It's encouraging that Sondland finally came out with something closer to the truth, but what is it that jarred his memory that previously failed him so badly? I think that's called lying under oath and is punishable by jail and/or monetary fines.
Meantime, you can count on Rs in congress to continue their amoral stand with Trump to protect their miserable careers as political hacks with no integrity. Expect them to shift from the resounding "no quid pro quo" to "everyone does it, and it's a nothing burger".
5
This is not Donald Trumps money. This is taxpayers money. Why Donald try to pretend this is his money. No Impeachment. Just vote him OUT. Only 364 days left. Then he will be joining his attorney Michael Cohen in jump suits for Campaign Finance Violations,
4
Since 1998, we've enforced the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters with Annex Treaty with the Ukraine, signed at Kiev on July 22 that year. In accordance with that treaty it would be perfectly plausible for the leader of one of the two countries to request assistance in a mutually-exigent legal matter involving crimes against the law in either country. There was no quid pro quo relative to the Biden family inquiry and the arms deal. Had there been - and this article craftily leaves out numerous exculpatory elements - even that wouldn't be impeachable, so this whole thing is simply another weak "We finally got him this time!" exercise in futility, hypocrisy and press-baiting. Whether or not you choose to be misled by this misleading reporting depends completely upon whether you trust your own brain or not.
1
@J Brian
Trump has never cared about corruption. His main interest has always been to exploit and hurt others and get away with it. Your explanation comes straight from the Big Lie boiler room.
2
@J Brian
Trump has never cared about corruption. His main interest has always been to exploit and hurt others and get away with it. Your explanation comes straight from the Big Lie boiler room.
Gaslight and obfuscate. The party thanks you for your service.
Trump withheld support approved by Congress to a foreign government in exchange for a political favor.
US foreign policy should not revolve around the reelection of a corrupt president.
2
Either there are Russian trolls commenting, or Trump’s die-hard, see-no-evil cult supporters insist the Emperor is wearing clothes, despite all evidence to the contrary.
If our democracy weren’t being threatened, I’d laugh it off - but this (and all other Trump dealings) is terribly serious.
110
@ml
This sounds like something a NYT reader would say.
@ml
Yes I believe there are trolls and I believe some of them are from Republicans.
1
@AACNY
That sounds like something a troll, or one of Trump’s die-hard, see-no-evil cult supporters, would say.
3
When do charges of Contempt of Congress become a part of this investigation?
News reports stating that the president and members of his administration are “sandbagging” make the United States House of Representatives appear weak.
The U.S. Constitution was written by the hand of James Madison. During the early years of our constitutional democracy, Madison wrote that it was the intention of our Founding Fathers that the Representatives of the People (the House) should wield more power than any of the divisions of the federal government.
Congressmen and Congresswomen, you have the constitution on your side!
Lock up those who defy congressional subpoenas! If the president is ordering his minions not to testify, add this crime to your articles of impeachment.
53
When a person tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, there is never a need to backpedal or revise what was said under oath. By issuing a revised version of his testimony, Sondland gave us an irrefutable demonstration that he lied, something that the person whose campaign received a million dollars from Sondland does on a daily basis.
42
If the investigation of the Bidens was legitimate, then why not participate in the congressional impeachment investigation? Why the obstruction?
The White House is behaving as though it’s guilty.
Is the congressional investigation no less legitimate as the purported Biden investigation? Or was Trump just requesting the “announcement” of an investigation as a political smear?
27
i men, It was exactly the same move as with Hillary's emails.
3
@Boethius
Their strategy is to make the trial in the Senate about Biden
They are not stupid
Corrupt, but not stupid
It will work too, because cable TV and the Times will support them
Funny how the prospect of being tried for perjury will sharpen the memory.
64
Republicans say Trump’s quid pro quo does not rise to an impeachable offense. How about undermining our elections—the motive for the quid pro quo? Free and fair elections have been the hallmark of our country for more than 230 years. Are Republicans ready to tell us those days are over?
48
Yes, it is quite clear that the Republicans are telling us that free and fair elections are over and the Supreme Court has endorsed even the most egregious gerrymandering.
10
@James Taylor
Absolutely, which is why Americans deserve to know if Ukraine was involved in our 2016 election.
1
Sondland obviously became afraid that the conversation in question would come to light some other way, through some other witness. He is nothing to Trump, who would throw Sondland under the bus in a nanosecond.
Of course, this may not yet be everything. An open question is who told Sondland to deliver that message. However. There is no doubt that the House will impeach.
The Republicans in the Senate are going to take the position that we are within a year of the election so the people should decide.
9
I believe it is no longer valid to characterize as a "far right theory" the fantasy that Ukrainians were in league with Democrats to "take down Trump".
With the appointment of Jim Jordan to the House Intelligence Committee, Trump's continued maniacal insistence that it is the case and what we are learning about Rudy Giuliani's actions on behalf of Trump—the theory is now official Republican policy.
7
It's time to start handing down penalties for those who refuse congressional subpoenas.
43
Some people seem not to know right from wrong. That's why laws were written to clearly explain what is wrong and to dissuade people from acting wrongly. Private business people are given a great deal of latitude in their business dealings with the assumption that the market will punish the bad actors. It doesn't. Then these business guys, whose only guiding light has been what benefits themselves and their investors, buy their way in to government, and still think the right thing to do is whatever most benefits himself. Corruption plain and simple.
And the people still supporting this? Acting as if they don't know right from wrong? Also corrupt. They need to be punished at the voting booth.
A local Republican in our town openly switched to the Democrats and denounced Trump over the course of the last three years.
That should be happening everywhere. But it's not.
23
The GOP digs in deeper. The smart play would be to convince Donald to resign but I haven't seen any signs of intelligence from the GOP for quite some time.
31
If Trump resigned and was granted a pardon by Pence, he'd still be subject to prosecution for crimes at the state level. Since moving to Florida would complicate prosecution in NY courts, possible resignation might have been one of the factors in Trump's decision to relocate.
3
@Phillip Usher - flipping between the cable news channels last night, I distinctly remember someone (I think on MSNBC) stating that his change of residence won't actually impact any of the NY state investigations into him or the SDNY's ability to get at him from a legal standpoint.
1
Trump did not only try to do this in Ukraine. This is just an instance in which he got caught. It is emblematic of how he operates when he thinks he can get away with it, and other examples will surely emerge. So what the Trumpies fail to see is that this impeachment investigation is not just some sideshow detracting from their minority agenda. If the law does not rein him in, then the way he tried to treat Ukraine is eventually how he will treat us all, including his supporters. No one here will vote freely; if Trump can get away with it, there will be strings attached. We will not pay taxes fairly; there will be strings attached. We will not work fairly; job opportunities will have strings attached. Give him fealty and more power, and he will grant you some crumbs. Sound like fiction? This is how it works in much of the world. Migrants seek a way out, because beyond a certain point their lives are out of their hands and will only get worse if they stay. The people do not control their destinies because all the cards are in the president's hands. Is this really the way you want to live?
15
"Refreshing" one's memory is a wonderful way to try to avoid perjury and jail. There are many more senior individuals in this fraudulent administration who swore allegiance to the Constitution of these United States but who may need to refresh their own memories before it's too late.
16
Ah, look how they run when the light is turned on! Is it wrong that I'm enjoying this so much?
20
Why are we still debating whether Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine for dirt on Biden? That’s been emphatically proven. Now, let’s focus on Trump’s motive: to rig the 2020 presidential election. Free elections are the hallmark of a democracy. Surely, election cheating is an impeachable offense.
38
@James Taylor
No, it hasn't been "emphatically proven." In fact, no aid was withheld.
2
@AACNY
Only if they skipped July, August, and half of September this year.
2
If a witness lies, who would believe such witness? Any court worthy of the name should throw out this testimony.
1
@Gennady I don’t understand your comment. Which testimony? In context, which we have, Sondland's new testimony dovetails with what at least three other witnesses have said.
4
@Gennady and throw out every word of Trump's
I guess this too-wealthy-to-lose-everything rich guy decided he had too much to lose to risk facing a lying to Congress prosecution. Perjury of that magnitude usually means years in prison.
What motivates these people to decide to put everything on the line to protect an immoral criminal like this is a question for the ages. What could possibly be going through their heads?
12
I didn’t read the article, but I read about 100 excellent comments. Please don’t forget - we are the un-ignorant. Sondland’s testimony - it will move the needle only a hair, if at all. We, the informed, are outnumbered. It’s all about education.
10
@Boring Tool
More like "uninformed." It was only a short while ago that NYT readers were claiming the investigation into Ukraine's involvement in our 2016 election was a "conspiracy theory." Now it's a criminal investigation.
2
@AACNY
The “criminal investigation” is itself a crime, based on a fake conspiracy theory.
1
This is what happens when witnesses read the perjury statutes.
18
These are just miffed elitist diplomats putting their spin on the situation. What matters is what came out of the President’s mouth and the transcript of the call demonstrates that nothing said was untoward.
3
@William That is not correct. Even requesting a foreign government to interfere in an election is an impeachable offense. Withholding money to ensure interference certainly is.
5
@William
I respectfully disagree.
What came out of the President's mouth was merely the verbal icing on the cake that he and his people had been baking for months.
The written statements and testimony that have been disclosed to date show that Trump's team (a) held up military aid that had been approved by Congress, (b) planned to continue to hold that aid up until they were able to get a "public statement" from the President of Ukraine that Ukraine was investigating Biden, (c) told the Ukrainians that such was the case, and (d) finally released the military aid only after having been caught in the spotlight.
What came out of Trump's mouth in his phone call is not the only thing that "matters." What matters is the corrupt scheme that he and his people had put into place months beforehand, all of which has now come to light, bit by bit.
5
It's actually a summary of a transcript, nit an actual transcript. And there's plenty wrong.
4
lol. "My memory was refreshed." He knew he was busted when multiple witnesses contradicted his original testimony. His choices were change his story or risk going to jail for lying to Congress. He's not that loyal to Trump. He just wanted to play ambassador for awhile then go back to his posh life.
Of note...he spent an absurd amount of our taxpayer dollars refurbishing the ambassador's residence, which was already described as one if the most lux in Brussels.
22
Perjury is a felony. Sondland clearly perjured himself in his original testimony. Why is he given a second chance to testify? We are dealing with the law, not a game show.
14
Sondland, translated: "I wish to extend and amend my comments in order to take a shot at the truth this time. No guarantees."
18
"Some things are gonna happen to her"
I wonder if this hotel investor was "in on" a plot to harm the US ambassador to Ukraine? Sondland seems like the kind of guy who stumbles around trying to maintain his relevancy and proximity to power. He was on the phone with Yovanovitch telling her to tweet nice things about Trump, to get out of hot water. And there was Trump doing his cheap imitation of a mob boss, "some things are gonna happen to her".
With this "revision" I'm sensing there's a lot more to get from Sondland. Keep pushing him.
24
Our government is corrupt and the GOP sits on their hands.
19
@John McLaughlin
Our government IS the GOP. This is what government will BE like if the GOP isn't thrown out, and it will only get worse.
4
This is not a plug for Rick Wilson's Everything Trump Touches Dies, but everything trump touches dies. All of these players will die a political death!
16
I hope so!
12
Ah, reflections of Flip Wilson’s “The devil made me do it!”
10
the reporting on the transcripts being done by NYT's reporters...[Key Excerpts of Sondland’s and Volker’s Testimonies
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/us/politics/impeachment-transcripts-sondland-volker.html]
...illustrate just how monstrous Trump truly is, there is no verbiage too extreme, too flowery or too hyperbolic.
Trump had Ukraine in a vice between his personal political interests and Putin's troops in its Eastern most province murdering Ukrainian women and children and shooting passenger jets out of the sky with all souls dead on impact.
"Mr. Sondland wrote that he told Andriy Yermak, a top Ukrainian aide, that an Oval Office meeting between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was not all that hung in the balance. The larger “relationship” between Ukraine and the United States was also at risk, he implied. The Ukrainians wanted the Oval Office meeting to bolster Mr. Zelensky’s credibility. But even more important, they wanted the White House to release its hold on $391 million in military assistance to help Ukraine fight pro-Russians forces waging a separatist war in eastern Ukraine."
6
This fine evening, I am feeling extreme pity for the Russo-Republican trolls who are scrambling to defend the indefensible in this comments section pending the official release of what Moscow Mitch and Lindsey Graham can come up with after downing a bottle of vodka courtesy if their boss Vlad inside the Kremlin.
So, for the record, these excuses are no longer valid:
• It was a perfect call
• Read the sanitized transcript
• A fireside reading of a newly sanitized script
• No quid pro quo
• There is a quid pro quo but it is totally legal
• Neither Trump nor Pompeo were in that call
• There was no phone call to begin with
• But the emails!!!
You’re welcome.
34
I think we all know how this will probably play out:
Trump will be impeached by the house. He will not be convicted by the Senate. He will do and day an infinite number of cuckoo crazy things before the election.
None of this will sway his bonkers base.
Democrats- you cannot win these brainwashed people over. Don’t even bother to try.
The Democratic candidate HAS to energize the Democratic base in order to win...
That is the only way
29
Mueller; do you see how far this went? You served to prove the F.B.I. is a political wing of the military and that your kind actually aided Trump's appointment as President with the help of your Television industry. Zimbalist huh? You have got to be kidding!
3
Didn't Sondland just perjure himself?
It's like when the cops catch the robber after the robbery is done, he says, wait.. I want to unrob the bank.
Huh?
15
Sondland confirms what Mulvaney blurted out with a get over dismissive and Taylor observed first hand. The GOP invertebrates can now twist themselves into a new shape as they move the goalposts around.
11
"Smocking" quid pro quo.
3