Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. While wrapped in diplomatic-speak and hemming-and-hawing, the statement of Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to European Union, is devastating to Trump and Giuliani. Given the surrounding evidence, either Giuliani has to say he lied to Sondland, or Trump has to be impeached....

2...it is important to dig through it, because, while quite clear on most dates, it takes jumping a bit around in the statement to figure out the date of the key event. So, here is the timeline from Sondland's statement:...

3...combined with other information:

Feb 28: Date that Trump Admin told Congress it would be releasing appropriated aid to Ukraine.

May 23: Three days after Zelensky's election, Sondland and US delegation brief Trump on Ukraine. They ask Trump to schedule a call and meeting...

4...saying that Zelensky has, through his campaign and election, received a mandate to go after corruption in Ukraine. *Despite there having been no time for Zelensky to have done anything* Trump says he is skeptical about Zelensky's commitment to reform and instructs the....

5...US delegation and Sondland to contact Rudy Giuliani about Trump's concerns. "It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the President’s mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani," Sondland says in his statement.....

6...

May 23 (same day): Trump Admin informs Congress they will be releasing aid to Ukraine. They give no explanation what is going on and why it has been delayed for three months. (The aid will not be released until September.)

Folks who met with Trump walk out disappointed...

6...and confused why there are preconditions for a phone call. "I did not understand, until much later, that Mr. Giuliani’s agenda might have also included an effort to prompt the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to involve Ukrainians, directly...

7... or indirectly, in the President’s 2020 reelection campaign."

July 11: Day after big meeting on phone call, Sondland learns there is a dispute about whether Trump should call Zelensky (to congratulate him on winning...what's the deal?) Rick Perry, Volker, and Sondland...

8...on one side and there NSC saying no. (now THOSE people need to be interviewed as to why they fought back on a congratulatory phone call.)

July 25: Call finally takes place. We have all read the notes: Zelensky asks for release of weaponry, Trump asks for investigation of....

9...DNC server conspiracy theory and of Bidens. (NOTE: Trump later says this was about him demanding action on "corruption in Ukraine."

Early August: Sondland calls Giuliani. See attached. This is the brutal point.

10.. so...Ukraine assistance still being withheld, despite Congress having been told months earlier it was being distributed. And Giuliani, saying he is speaking for the President, says Trump wants their to be an anti-corruption statement from Zelensky *specifically* about...

11...the DNC server & Burisma - *which was never under criminal investigation by anyone, but that is the company where Hunter Biden is a director.* (The "Burisma" investigation was instead an investigation of its founder for actions he may have taken while a government official..

12...either Sondland is lying to the committee, or @RudyGiuliani lied to Sondland, or Trump told Giuliani he was demanding a corruption statement in which he specifically designated what cases he wanted mentioned by a foreign power: A conspiracy theory on DNC server, and a...

@RudyGiuliani 13...nonexistent case involving the son of the man who was, at the time, his chief rival for the presidency. And he was doing it at the same time he was withholding the assistance he had assured Congress was being dispersed.

August 12: Whistleblower files report saying that...

@RudyGiuliani 14...people inside the White House are telling him Trump is linking aid to Ukraine to their pursuing a case against Biden and also a case with the sole purpose of proving that Russia had nothing to do with the hacking of 2016. He is trying to *absolve* Russia. Such a statement...

@RudyGiuliani 15...by Ukraine would be devastating to the criminal case brought by Mueller against Russians involved in the hacking/disinformation campaign. In essence, if Giuliani told the truth, not only is Trump extorting a foreign power, but he is interfering with a criminal prosecution...

@RudyGiuliani 16...while I dont believe this has bene publicly confirmed, it has been reported that White House learned of whistleblower complaint about September 9.

Sep 11: Trump releases the aid to Ukraine. No corruption statement - which was the foundation of whether Trump would even...

@RudyGiuliani 17...allow Zelensky to visit him in the White House, is suddenly released.

September 13: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam subpoenas intel IG to compel him to disclose the whistleblower complaint.

This is really, really bad....

@RudyGiuliani 18...Trump is not an idiot. As Michael Cohen testified, ""He doesn't give orders. He speaks in a code." He would never say "if you do this, I will do that." But no rational person....

@RudyGiuliani 19...could look at this scenario and this evidence and conclude anything else other than Trump was extorting Zelensky, and tricking Congress, in order to push him to release a corruption statement that was all about the imaginary cases TRUMP wanted pursued. A president cannot...

@RudyGiuliani 20...ethically demand a case be pursued in the United States. It is considered an abuse of power. But here, he is demanding just that of a foreign power, instructing Sondland through Giuliani to deliver a message from the President to Zelensky that Trump wants a statement....

@RudyGiuliani 21...declaring that Ukraine is investigating the company where Hunter Biden is director (again, where no such investigation was ever underway) and another intended to absolve Russia of hacking which would have the result of crippling the Mueller prosecution of Russians.....

@RudyGiuliani 22...this is Mafia-grade stuff. And this is just the first bits of evidence. This can only get worse. And when it does, if the @GOP and @senatemajldr make this solely about partisan politics, they are declaring that a president can engage in the most grotesque forms of abuses...

@RudyGiuliani @GOP @senatemajldr 23..of power and, so long as Senate is governed by the same party as the president, the president can get away with it and never be stopped.

If GOPs dontt start caring for America more than for their jobs, co-equal branches of government, and Constitutional democracy, is dead./f