TAYLOR: Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election...
2/ "...Ambassador Sondland said everything was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelensky in a box by making public statement (sic) about ordering such investigations...
3/ TAYLOR tells SONDLAND to push back on Trump's demand. Sondland reports back:
"He said he had talked to President Trump, as I had suggested a week earlier, but that President Trump was adamant that President Zelensky himself had to clear things up and do it in public...
"He said he had talked to President Trump, as I had suggested a week earlier, but that President Trump was adamant that President Zelensky himself had to clear things up and do it in public...
4/ TAYLOR says Sondland told him "President Trump said it was not a quid pro quo."
Sondland tells TAYLOR he told Zelensky and Yermak "that, although this was not a quid pro quo, if President Zelensky did not clear things up in public, we would be at a stalemate...
Sondland tells TAYLOR he told Zelensky and Yermak "that, although this was not a quid pro quo, if President Zelensky did not clear things up in public, we would be at a stalemate...
5/ "I understood a stalemate to mean that Ukraine would not receive the much-needed military assistance. Ambassador Sondland said that this conversation concluded with President Zelensky agreeing to make a public statement in an interview with CNN."
