Up til now, I think everyone has missed the fact that Ambassador William Taylor is one of the brilliant players in this Ukraine scandal.
Watch what happens with Taylor’s statements in his texts as it dawns on him that Sondland is neck deep in some pay-for-play scam directed by Trump. To this point, Sondland has been talking around it but never quite saying it. And he certainly hasn’t told anyone how many conversations he has had with Trump about it. So, Taylor does the thing that any honest person who wants this criminality exposed would do; he keeps pushing Sondland to say it:
[9/1/19, 12:08:57 PM] Bill Taylor: Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?
[9/1/19, 12:42:29 PM] Gordon Sondland: Call me
So some supposition on my part [no evidence of this yet] …Taylor likely calls Sondland. There is no record of that call. But what Sondland says to Taylor probably shows him that Sondland and Voker have been scamming Zelenski to start up a fake Biden investigation to unfreeze US military assistance.
Obviously, this would rankle Taylor. It’s illegal as it is directly harmful to US interests in Ukraine. It was also quite likely to get all kinds of Ukrainians killed as the money sat unspent. It also played right into Russia’s hand.
No texts record anything until a week later. Sondland texts to see if Taylor and Volker can talk by phone after Sondland has talked to a bunch of people — including Trump.
[9/8/19, 11:20:32 AM] Gordon Sondland: Guys multiple convos with Ze, Potus. Lets talk
[9/8/19, 11:21:41 AM] Bill Taylor: Now is fine with me
Apparently, they try to have a conference call where Volker couldn’t hear, but Taylor and Sondland talk. And Taylor is not happy:
[9/8/19, 11:26:13 AM] Kurt Volker: Try again—could not hear
[9/8/19, 11:40:11 AM] Bill Taylor: Gordon and I just spoke. I can brief you if you and Gordon don’t connect
[9/8/19, 12:37:28 PM] Bill Taylor: The nightmare is they give the interview and don’t get the security assistance. The Russians love it. (And I quit.)
My supposition … Taylor is clearly pissed by what this conspiracy represents, because he finally says out loud what is the biggest US national security issue at the heart of the scam — the fact that Russia is the one who is likely to benefit most from Zelenski refusing to play ball with the conspiracy.
The next day:
[9/9/19, 12:31:06 AM] Bill Taylor: The message to the Ukrainians (and Russians) we send with the decision on security assistance is key. With the hold, we have already shaken their faith in us. Thus my nightmare scenario.
[9/9/19, 12:34:44 AM] Bill Taylor: Counting on you to be right about this interview, Gordon [Sondland].
At this point, it’s understandable that Taylor wants things to be recorded somewhere because there were any number of nightmare scenarios likely to be played out by all of it. Taylor is writing it down because he knows it should be when things blow up.
So, Sondland responds to Taylor:
[9/9/19, 12:37:16 AM] Gordon Sondland: Bill, I never said I was “right”. I said we are where we are and believe we have identified the best pathway forward. Lets hope it works.
My supposition: Taylor reads that and says to himself, “’the best path forward’ is getting Zelenski to agree to a sham investigation of the Biden family to get promised US military aid? Bullshit. I TOLD Sondland why this whole pay-to-play thing was likely to be a disaster for the US and for Ukraine.”
So he goes nuclear on Sondland by writing down the fact that he and Sondland HAVE CLEARLY DISCUSSED THE CONSPIRACY BY PHONE:
[9/9/19, 12:47:11 AM] Taylor: As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.
Sondland doesn’t respond to this for 5 hours. 5 hours. Turns out, in the interim Sondland talked to Trump. And then he replies with a response so amazingly tight it seems directly written by the White House lawyer. My supposition? It WAS written by a White House laywer — because Sondland likely told Trump that Taylor wrote down his suspicions about the whole scam:
[9/9/19, 5:19:35 AM] Sondland: Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The president has been crystal clear no quid pro quos of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign I suggest we stop the back and forth by text If you still have concerns I recommend you give Lisa Kenna or S a call to discuss them directly. Thanks.
TL;DR … Taylor screwed Sondland to the wall by WRITING DOWN that Sondland had discussed with him that this whole scam was intended to get dirt on Biden for Trump’s campaign. It’s also pretty likely that Sondland told Taylor enough for Taylor to realize that Trump was involved up to his eyeballs.
Which otherwise was covered up by the fact that it all occurred on an unrecorded phone call. That Sondland had been repeatedly suggesting BY TEXT that they do as a matter of process.
Sondland is eager to testify because when Taylor testifies, he’s going to tell Congress all of this. And Taylor has got receipts.