With the pace of witnesses going past the House impeachment inquiry, and with most of the testimony in this round staying locked up behind closed doors, it can be easy to lose track of what’s being said and where the inquiry stands. However, Thursday’s testimony from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland deserves a second look.
Thanks to the opening statement released in advance of Sondland’s appearance, not everything he said yesterday is a mystery. In particular, Sondland testified that Donald Trump pushed him to ignore what the experts were saying and look to Rudy Giuliani for guidance on how he should handle Ukraine. And what Sondland got from Giuliani was a definitive explanation that Trump wanted Ukraine’s new government to both investigate a series of debunked conspiracy theories about the 2016 election, and also announce an investigation into a firm where Joe Biden’s son was on the board.
The fantasies that Giuliani expressed to Sondland, and that Sondland then attempted to force on Ukraine officials, appear to be the same as those contained in the packet of propaganda that circulated widely around the State Department. The inspector general of the State Department turned over that information to House staffers on Oct. 3, and the information contained in those pages has since received little attention. However, the stack of information seems to have contained a string of conspiracy theories that not only circulated around the State Department, but were the heart of what Sondland took as his instructions. That propaganda, spread by Giuliani and reinforced by Trump, spread like an infection through the State Department, carried along by Trump’s political appointees.
But while Sondland’s testimony seems gratifying in once again underlining the extent to which Trump turned over Ukraine policy to Giuliani, there is a problem. Sondland’s statement places him in opposition to that idea. “We were also disappointed by the president’s direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani,” wrote Sondland. “Our view was that the men and women of the State Department, not the president’s personal lawyer, should take responsibility ...”
Sondland draws a line, with the State Department on one side and Giuliani on the other. Only that’s not what the evidence, including texts written by Sondland himself, demonstrates.
Those texts show Sondland, along with special envoy Kurt Volker, in open and cheerful conversation with Giuliani. Not only do Sondland and Volker make it clear to Giuliani that they’ve asked Ukrainian officials to announce investigations into the conspiracy theories that Giuliani pushed, but they also show these “men of the State Department” eagerly touching base with Giuliani to make sure they’ve done it correctly.
Volker: Hi, Mr Mayor! Had a good chat with [Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy] Yermak last night. He was pleased with your phone call. Mentioned Z making a statement. Can we all get on the phone to make sure I advise Z correctly as to what he should be saying? We want to make sure we get this done right. Thanks!
Sondland: Good idea, Kurt. I am on Pacific Time.
Giuliani: Yes, you can call me now.
That’s Volker and Sondland getting together with Giuliani to make sure they are “advising” the president of Ukraine “correctly” on what he should say if he wants to get assistance from the United States.
If there was a line separating those who were working for the good of the United States and those who were simply obeying the wishes of Donald Trump to secure political dirt, no matter the cost, Sondland was on the dirty side of the line.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has announced that he expects to make all the testimony heard by the impeachment inquiry public within the next few weeks. As the impeachment inquiry moves into the next phase, additional appearances are likely to occur, and some of these same witnesses will be asked to repeat their statements in public.