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, 8 tweets, 5 min read
According to Bill Taylor, Sondland told Ukraine that, to get a White House meeting, they had to publicly announce Trump's politically-motivated investigations—then corrected himself: "everything," including military aid, depended on the announcement. washingtonpost.com/powerpost/dipl…
Read Taylor's full opening statement here: washingtonpost.com/context/openin…
Some key points from Taylor's testimony:
-Sondland justified the decision to work outside of established channels as a way to "make sure no one was transcribing or monitoring" their conversations with Zelensky.
washingtonpost.com/context/openin…
-In one call, Trump's people confirmed that military aid was being withheld and explicitly connected "investigations"—that is, political favors for Trump—with the reward of a White House meeting.
In other words: a quid pro quo.
washingtonpost.com/context/openin…
-Taylor also independently confirmed Fiona Hill's testimony that even John Bolton wanted no part of the arrangement, calling it a "drug deal" and (accurately) predicting that a conversation between Trump and Zelensky "would be a disaster." washingtonpost.com/context/openin…
-Sondland explicitly states the quid pro quo: "everything," including security assistance, was dependent on Zelensky announcing Trump's desired political investigations. washingtonpost.com/context/openin…
-Before he called Trump on September 9, Sondland didn't even try to deny there was a quid pro quo. Instead, he claimed Trump's shakedown was just another example of Trump approaching the presidency as a "businessman." washingtonpost.com/context/openin…
How hard did the White House work to keep the contents of Trump's July 25 call a secret?
They kept it hidden from Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine—even though he was literally scheduled to meet with Zelensky the next day. washingtonpost.com/context/openin…
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The Moscow Project
@moscow_project
Roger Stone's trial starts today. He's maybe the clearest link between Trump's 2016 campaign and WikiLeaks: He repeatedly said he'd spoken to Julian Assange, and predicted it would be "Podesta's time in the barrel" months before the Podesta emails leaked.
themoscowproject.org/players/rogers…
Stone's indictment suggests that he created a successful backchannel to WikiLeaks: He and Jerome Corsi appear to have successfully coordinated an attack on Hillary Clinton's health based on advance knowledge that WikiLeaks would dump emails on the subject. themoscowproject.org/dispatch/roger…
Not only that, it appears to show that the Trump campaign directed collusion from the highest level: According to the indictment, after WikiLeaks dumped the DNC emails, "a senior Trump campaign official *was directed*" to contact Stone about future dumps. themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-s…
Read 6 tweets
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The Moscow Project
@moscow_project
"What is at stake? What is at stake is nothing less than our democracy."
-@SpeakerPelosi
@SpeakerPelosi "This is an unprecedented coverup, and the White House and its defenders in Congress have tried to justify it with baseless procedural claims that contradict the constitution and historic precedent."
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-@RepJoeMorelle
Read 6 tweets
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The Moscow Project
@moscow_project
House investigators have invited John Bolton to testify as part of their impeachment investigation. cnbc.com/2019/10/30/dat…
NBC has reportedly confirmed that he intends to attend his deposition, which is scheduled for November 7:
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Related threads

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Jake Morphonios
@morphonios
Tim Morrison is a top White House official who raised concerns over #Trump manipulating #Ukraine for personal advantage. Trump ordered him to defy Congress & not testify against him in the #ImpeachmentInquiry, so Morrison quit his job. He is being deposed today.
Today, #TimMorrison testified that Trump's EU Ambassador, Gordon Sondland, told #Ukraine that military aid was conditioned on Ukraine publicly announcing an investigation into the Bidens (quid pro quo). He also confirmed the accuracy of Ambassador to Ukraine Taylor's testimony.
Put into the full context of Morrison's testimony, his statement that he did not think anything illegal was happening during the June 25th phone call is because he was NOT YET AWARE at that time that Trump was withholding military aid until the Bidens were investigated.
Read 3 tweets
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Ryan Goodman
@rgoodlaw
Patriot

“A decorated Iraq war veteran plans to tell House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he heard President Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate one of his leading political rival...so damaging to American interests that he reported it to a superior” NYT
1. Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, TWICE registered internal objections

2. Sounds like Vindman has documents to back up his claims:

“According to documents reviewed by The Times on the eve of his congressional testimony...”
3. Sondland is dead in the water.

Vindman’s prepared testimony:

“Ambassador Sondland emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens and Burisma.”

Corroborates Fiona Hill and Bill Taylor testimony.
Read 6 tweets
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Polly Sigh
@dcpoll
Bill Taylor: "I sensed something odd when Sondland told me he did not wish to include most of the regular interagency participants on a planned call Jun 28 with President Zelensky [Volker and Perry] ... [and] he wanted to make sure no one was transcribing or monitoring the call."
Bill Taylor: Sondland said the security assistance money would not come until Zelensky committed to pursue the Burisma investigation … [On a Sep 1] I told Sondland that Trump should have more respect for another head of state.
Bill Taylor: Trump told Sondland on a Sep 7 call that he wasn't asking for a ‘quid pro quo’ but Zelensky better “go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of Biden and the 2016 US election, and Zelensky should do it himself [or no US aid].”

Straight up mob speak.
Read 4 tweets
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MissAnthrope
@LyssAnthrope
.@NYTimes published an easily-debunked right-wing smear against a Democrat. Again.
.@nytimes has a record of "raising questions" about alleged misconduct by a Democrat based on an easily-disproven right-wing conspiracy theory, pushed by Peter Schweizer (serial inventor of partisan scandals)
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"How isn’t this the biggest political story in America right now — Team Trump wants the help from another foreign government to dig up dirt on an opponent?"
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Read 59 tweets
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Alamo_on_the_rise
@AlamoOnTheRise
Trump: Day 772
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The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
Read 61 tweets
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Zach Everson
@Z_Everson
Trump Hotels' website still lists Trump SoHo New York among its properties in the Our Hotels menu. Select its name though to access its page and there's a message about it being renamed

bit.ly/2EPCSy1
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bit.ly/2CpL7z2
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