President Trump’s ambassador to the European Union (EU), Gordon Sondland, plans to tell Congress this week that a text he sent denying understanding of quid pro quo between Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in a July phone call in July was dictated by Trump himself.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that a source familiar with the ambassador’s planned testimony told the newspaper that Sondland plans to testify that Trump told him in a phone conversation to tell the acting ambassador to Ukraine that he didn’t “want a quid pro quo … didn’t want anything from Ukraine” in exchange for military aid.
Regarding whether that is actually true, the person said, Sondland will not take an opinion, and instead will tell lawmakers that he worked at the direction of President Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to secure a statement from Ukraine’s government confirming a criminal investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.
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Sondland is expected to testify before three House committees on Thursday, defying an order from the State Department not to comply with Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
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#BREAKING: Ambassador Sondland to tell Congress "no quid pro quo" text dictated by Trump himself: report https://t.co/7xIsCf81o3 pic.twitter.com/CHHvNLEbpJ
— The Hill (@thehill) October 13, 2019
“It’s only true that the president said it, not that it was the truth,” said the person familiar with Sondland’s planned testimony…
— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) October 13, 2019
who saw this coming besides everyone pic.twitter.com/6T1bsPDymO
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) October 13, 2019
Sondland is apparently going to testify that he was just repeating what you told him. Not that it was true. https://t.co/Dd0Cwodw6P
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) October 13, 2019
The new WaPo scoop that Sondland will testify to a quid pro quo contains a big revelation.
Sondland came to believe military aid *was* being used as leverage to extract statement calling for investigations of Burisma.
If he testifies to this, it's big 1/https://t.co/g1bpFelpul pic.twitter.com/BETLavvziJ
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 13, 2019
And so, if Sondland connects the military aid to the demand for an investigation of Burisma, he's connected the money directly to the demand that Ukraine help Trump rig our election — *even if* Sondland doesn't explicitly testify to the latter half. 3/3
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 13, 2019
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