Gordon Sondland has implicated a number of White House officials who were “in the loop” with Donald Trump‘s direction to withhold aid to Ukraine in an exchange for a meeting and a public statement announcing an investigation into the president’s political opponents.
Mr Sondland, a US ambassador to the EU, affirmed that there was a so-called quid pro quo, dropping a bombshell testimony into another pivotal hearing in the House impeachment inquiry into the president’s alleged abuses of power in his dealings with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to his testimony, Mr Sondland worked under the president’s order to work with Rudy Giuliani “not because we liked it but because it was the only constructive path” to building a relationship with a vulnerable Ukraine. In emails and other conversations with US officials — including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Energy Secretary Rick Perry — Mr Sondland established a clear link from the president, through Giuliani, and efforts to engage Ukraine with investigations into the 2016 election and Burisma.
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Among those are armored vests, medical equipment, tactical drones, and armored vehicles.
“Yes sir,” Cooper says when asked if that is “a lot more than blankets”.
Swalwell arguing that the Obama administration did more than simply provide blankets to Ukraine, even though the Trump administration has allowed for the sale of javelin missiles.
Swalwell says that Cooper’s testimony shows that “no harm no foul” and that Trump being a “champion” of anti-corruption is not true.
Hale notes he does not know of ‘nefarious’ reasons to withhold aide.
Elise Stefanik hammering down on Javelin missiles being made available during the Trump administration. Republicans keep hitting this point.
Cooper says that the only specific moment she remembers Ukrainians asking about the aide was on 5 September. She noted earlier that her office had received other questions from Ukrainians.
Republican Chris Stewart says he doesn’t wan to keep repeating his colleagues’ questions “ad nauseum” but then says he is about to do exactly that.
Cooper testifies that she has advocated for support for Ukraine because she believes it is “in the national security interest”.
Cooper says she is unsure what triggered the release of Ukraine military aide.
Cooper takes issue with an odd line of questioning from Brad Wenstrup, who is trying to equate “resuming” military aide to Ukraine with, somehow, not providing Javelin missiles any longer.
The Obama administration did not provide Javelins, but the recent stop in aide did not necessarily impact that beyond not providing money.
Cooper says that the “javelin” program was important, and helpful to Ukraine.
“It would embolden Russia, it would also validate Russia’s violation of international law,” Cooper says when asked what would happen if the US withdrew influence from the region.
“Russia violated the sovereignty of Ukraine’s territory Russia illegally annexed territory that belongs to Ukraine. They also denied Ukraine access to its naval fleet at the time and to this day Russia is developing a capability… designed to expand Russia power capability far beyond the immediate region,” Cooper says, when asked why the annexation was so bad.
Cooper says that the Ukrainians “have a long way to go” in order to be able to match Russian forces one on one.
Carson once again mixed up testimony.
Hale says that Ukraine is necessary to be a reliable ally to stand up to Russia.
Andre Carson is up for the democrats, and he seemingly mistook Hale’s name for being “Cooper”.
Hale says he is not aware of any hand off of investigation for aide, and says he is not aware of Mike Pompeo being aware of that.
Jim Jordan is up now, and took offense at the idea that any of the witnesses called before the committee are Republican witnesses (because they don’t have the ability to actually subpoena anyone).
Hale says “yes” when asked if it is unusually for foreign aide to be held up to try and leverage a foreign investigation into a political rival.
“Certainly not what I would do,” he says when asked if it would be wrong, in addition to irregular.
Mr Trump told reporters outside the White House that he barely knows Mr Sondland, who he previously called a “great American”, and that he seems like a “nice guy”.
The president read from a stack of papers in his hand, which included, in capital letters, his recollection of a conversation with Mr Sondland in which Trump said “I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NO QUID PRO QUO.”
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that “the US aid to Ukraine flowed, no investigation was launched, and President Trump has met and spoken with President Zelensky. Democrats keep chasing ghosts.”
Mr Pence and Mr Perry also released statements during the hearing denying Mr Giuliani’s influence in their dealings with Ukraine. They’ve refused to testify in the impeachment probe.
Mr Trump also lashed out at his Democratic opponents conducting the House impeachment inquiry, mocked key witnesses giving testimony for their sartorial choices and denied that the onset of a heart attack was what prompted his sudden trip to hospital on Saturday.
“These people are sick. They’re sick. And the press really in this country is dangerous. We don’t have freedom of the press in this country. We have the opposite. We have a very corrupt media,” the president ranted from the Cabinet Room of the White House on Tuesday.
The inquiry heard from four witnesses on Tuesday who detailed the administration’s coercion of Ukraine.
