Gordon Sondland has been at the center of the impeachment hearings since they started last Wednesday, but he hasn’t actually been in the room to testify until this Wednesday. Now it’s time to hear from the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, who previously gave a closed-door deposition, only to issue an amendment—but subsequent testimony has suggested Sondland has a lot more amending to do.
Witness after witness has described Sondland’s part in pushing Donald Trump’s extortion of Ukraine forward, pressing Ukrainian officials for the “investigations” Trump wanted into his political opponents and coordinating that effort among others in the Trump administration. And where most of the witnesses so far were not in direct contact with Trump himself, Sondland was, including the July 26 phone call overheard by witnesses that Sondland didn’t mention earlier. That’s one of many things he’s going to need to explain.
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2019 · 8:25:03 PM +00:00 · Barbara Morrill
Ongoing coverage can be found here.
Daily Kos will be following the proceedings all day.
Watch live:
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2019 · 7:40:59 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Republicans Rep. Stefanik is the first to give Sondland a “thank you for your service.” Which is sad. After all, this is a man who has worked for the United States for … well, about a year. And only has a $200K kitchen upgrade, a Jacuzzi pool, and a lot of private plane travel to show for it.
Stefanik is one of several Republicans to bring up the investigation into Burisma held under the Obama administration, without pointing out that what Joe Biden did in Ukraine was explicitly designed to support that investigation.
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2019 · 8:13:51 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Just about every Republican coming up this afternoon has entered into the record a statement from someone — from Perry to Mulvaney — that disparages Sondland’s testimony. But of course, none of these people are willing to show up and testify.
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2019 · 8:21:19 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Rep. Demings asks Sondland about a meeting among Ukrainian officials on how they should respond to Trump / Giuliani … and this time I can believe that Sondland hasn’t heard of the meeting, because it’s gotten only scattered coverage in the U.S.