Thread by @jeremyherb

And we're underway with day four and Gordon Sondland

Read Sondland's full opening statement here cnn.com/2019/11/20/pol…

Schiff once again refers to David Holmes' "expletive" testimony on Trump not caring about Ukraine (which Sondland told Holmes, of course)

Schiff notes that Trump admin has failed to turn over documents in probe, but says Sondland's "sampling" shows that the Ukraine effort was well known, including Pompeo and Pence

Nunes up now, with similar remarks we've heard from him before on the Russia hoax and the three-year effort to remove the President...

Nothing about Sondland's testimony so far.

"Ambassador Sondland, you are here today to be smeared," Nunes says.

We're expecting that it will be Republicans who are going to try to undermine Sondland's credibility, given his opening statement

Schiff says we're "joined this afternoon" by Sondland...before correcting himself and (correctly) noting it was "a long day yesterday"

Don't forget that one of the main GOP defenses up until today was that all of the allegations were based on secondhand and third-hand info.

That's out the window now.

BUT...while Sondland's statement implicates Trump in the quid pro quo, he does NOT say he was told directly by Trump. In fact he says little about multiple Trump phone calls that have emerged since his deposition -- and that will be key line of questioning for both Ds and Rs

Sondland says his memory has been far from perfect, but argues that he was hampered by an inability to review documents ahead of his deposition

Sondland: "As a presidential appointee, I followed the directions of the President. We worked with Mr. Giuliani because the President directed us to do so."

"Again, there was no secret regarding moving forward and the discussion of investigations," Sondland says. Now reading texts and emails he provided today to the committee

Sondland notes it was "very odd" that neither he, Taylor nor Volker received readouts of the Trump-Zelensky call with references to investigating the Bidens

Sondland on David Holmes testimony of his July 26 call with Trump: "It's true that the President likes to use colorful language. Anyone who has met with him any reasonable amount of time knows this."

(Second sentence ad libbed from prepared remarks)

Sondland: "Was there a 'quid pro quo?' As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes."

His previous testimony did not make such an explicit statement about a quid pro quo existing.

Key line from Sondland: "Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret. Everyone was informed via email on July
19, days before the Presidential call."

Sondland expands on his amended testimony on the 9/1 meeting w/ Yermak: "I told Mr. Yermak that I believed that the resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine took some kind of action on the public statement that we had been discussing for many weeks."

Circling back to Nunes, here's the three subpoenas he and Jordan are requesting in the impeachment inquiry, from their letter to Schiff

And here we go with questions: Dems get 45 minutes first, followed by 45 mins for GOP.

We'll see if there's an additional extended round, too, like we had yesterday w/ Volker and Morrison

Sondland clarifies that the Bidens didn't initially come up, just Burisma. But he says "of course" he knows now that Burisma meant the Bidens

On the July 26 call, Sondland says he does not recall "saying Biden."

Holmes testified Sondland told him Trump only cares about "big stuff that matters to him, like this Biden investigation that Giuliani is pushing."

Schiff pressing what Trump told Sondland, which Morrison and Taylor testified was that Zelensky should go to a "microphone."

"All I can say is that I expressed what I the president told me in that text. And if I relayed other than what was in that text, I don't recall," he says

Goldman's questioning to date has walked witnesses through the details their stories.

In this case, key details with Sondland are in dispute, so there could be some interesting/contentious exchanges ahead

Sondland: "What triggered my memory was the reference to A$AP Rocky"

Sondland on his "loves your ass" quote to Trump:

"That sounds like something I would say. That's how Trump and I communicate. A lot of four letter words. In this case three letter."

Sondland says he probably said "Burisma" but not "Bidens" when talking to Holmes on the July 26 call.

It's a distinction he's making -- Burisma not Biden. But as Goldman noting now, Trump was talking about Biden on the call the day prior

Sondland kind of, sort of saying Trump told him about the investigations ahead of the July 25 call.

"If he (Volker) testified to that, to refresh my own memory, then yes, it’s likely I would have received that from President Trump," Sondland says.

Goldman: "It’s the only logical conclusion, given all these factors, that the aid was part of this quid pro quo?"

Sondland: "Yup."

And there's the one line from Sondland Republicans will point to: "My testimony is I never heard from President Trump that aid was conditioned on the announcement of investigations."

And we're in a break. Time for more coffee.

Sondland says he "doesn't know about any drug deal" and that he's "a proud" member of the "three amigos"

Had a Twitter break to write, but here's a key exchange in the GOP questioning:

“You testified Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires for the president?” Castor asked.
“That’s our understanding, yes,” Sondland said.
“But how do you know that? Who told you?” Castor responded.

CASTOR: So the president never told you about any preconditions for the aid to be released?
SONDLAND: No.
CASTOR: The president never told you about any preconditions for a White House meeting?
SONDLAND: Personally, no.

Another 30 minute round! Schiff and Goldman back up now.

Goldman now ticking through the witnesses who have defied House Dem subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry -- including Brian McCormack, Perry's former chief who Sondland said would be a good witness

Goldman and Sondland note that the White House meeting Zelensky wanted still has not occurred (while the aid has been released)

Schiff and Goldman drilling Sondland down about Trump telling Sondland that Zelensky had to "clear things up" and "do it publicly."

Sondland says he has no reason to dispute that, but drawing a distinction that it was tied to the freezing of aid.

'It was no secret': Ambassador says quid pro quo came at 'express direction of the President' cnn.com/2019/11/20/pol…

Nunes knocks Dems for not releasing the transcript of Mark Sandy, an OMB official who testified on Saturday

Castor making the point that Holmes was energized by the July 26 call...

"So not only did I buy him lunch, I provided him entertainment," Sondland says.

Now we're getting into the substance of whether Sondland "brought up the Bidens."

We're now on a lunch break thay we are going to try to keep short, apparently