This is a big day.
Sondland decided to come clean, name names, and bring the receipts on:
Giuliani, Pompeo, Pence, and Trump himself.
I'll try to keep up with a thread, but start here w/ @neal_katyal's excerpts from Sondland written statement:
Sondland decided to come clean, name names, and bring the receipts on:
Giuliani, Pompeo, Pence, and Trump himself.
I'll try to keep up with a thread, but start here w/ @neal_katyal's excerpts from Sondland written statement:
@neal_katyal 2/ Sondland forcefully states the White House refused to cooperate with providing documents to help him get his account correct.
a) Smart. Gives him protection if he gets any details wrong.
b) But he's making it clear that their obstruction is backfiring, because he is angry.
a) Smart. Gives him protection if he gets any details wrong.
b) But he's making it clear that their obstruction is backfiring, because he is angry.
@neal_katyal 3/ "Rudy Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo."
@neal_katyal 4/ Sondland makes 6 damning points:
1) "We did not want to work with @RudyGiuliani. Simply put, we played the hand we were dealt. If we refused to work with him, we'd lose an important opportunity to cement relations btw the US & Ukraine.
So we followed the President’s orders"
1) "We did not want to work with @RudyGiuliani. Simply put, we played the hand we were dealt. If we refused to work with him, we'd lose an important opportunity to cement relations btw the US & Ukraine.
So we followed the President’s orders"
@neal_katyal @RudyGiuliani 5/
2) "If I had known of all of @RudyGiuliani's dealings or of his associations with individuals now under criminal indictment, I would not have acquiesced to his participation. Still, given what we knew at the time, what we were asked to do did not appear to be wrong."
2) "If I had known of all of @RudyGiuliani's dealings or of his associations with individuals now under criminal indictment, I would not have acquiesced to his participation. Still, given what we knew at the time, what we were asked to do did not appear to be wrong."
@neal_katyal @RudyGiuliani 6/
3) "I have identified State Dept emails & messages that provide contemporaneous support for my view. These emails show that the leadership of State, NSC, & the White House were all informed about the Ukraine efforts from May 23 until the security aid was released on Sept 11."
3) "I have identified State Dept emails & messages that provide contemporaneous support for my view. These emails show that the leadership of State, NSC, & the White House were all informed about the Ukraine efforts from May 23 until the security aid was released on Sept 11."
@neal_katyal @RudyGiuliani 7/
4) "Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visits."
"Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States."
4) "Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visits."
"Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States."
@neal_katyal @RudyGiuliani 8/
5)
"I later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma, as Mr. Giuliani had demanded."
5)
"I later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma, as Mr. Giuliani had demanded."
@neal_katyal @RudyGiuliani 9/
6)
"As a pres appointee, I followed the directions of the President... My personal view- which I shared repeatedly with others- was that the WH meeting and security assistance should have proceeded without pre-conditions of any kind."
Now Sondland explains how they were tied.
6)
"As a pres appointee, I followed the directions of the President... My personal view- which I shared repeatedly with others- was that the WH meeting and security assistance should have proceeded without pre-conditions of any kind."
Now Sondland explains how they were tied.
@neal_katyal @RudyGiuliani 10/ Now Schiff's questions:
"You confirm there was a quid pro quo for Burisma and Biden investigation?"
"Correct."
"You confirm there was a quid pro quo for Burisma and Biden investigation?"
"Correct."
