Apparently a masochist, the ROM squandered another of the remaining days of his life sitting on the sofa, eyes glued to the t.v. as he watched today's impeachment hearings. This time, though, it was worth it, as Gordon Sondland, a Trump supporter who donated $1M for the 2016 inauguration and was rewarded with the ambassadorship to the EU, ratted out his boss.
As some point, Sondland must have realized that if Trump was willing to let close associates like Roger Stone and Michael Cohen go to jail for him, if he was even now actively throwing Rudy Giuliani under the bus, and as he was already distancing himself from Sondland ("barely know the guy"), that there was no reason not to expect he wouldn't wind up in jail. Sondland didn't donate one million dollars to go to jail for that son of a bitch, so he finally broke rank, directly contradicted two of his own prior testimonies ("oh, yeah, now I remember") and spilled the beans on our so-called president.
Sondland said that Giuliani had indeed sought a “quid pro quo” - a public statement announcing investigations into widely debunked theories that could benefit Trump politically in exchange for a White House visit. Sondland want on to state that Trump’s demands on Ukraine prioritized the announcement of investigations into the Bidens more than actually completing any investigation. As far as Trump was concerned, Ukraine’s announcement that it was investigating his rival as part of a Ukrainian anti-corruption agenda would be damaging enough. In other words, Trump wasn't concerned about ending corruption in Ukraine, he just wanted a damaging sound bite on Joe Biden.
Sondland also told Congress that the pressure campaign against Ukraine was directed by Trump personally and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had signed off on it. He confirmed that there was a “clear quid pro quo” for a White House meeting between Trump and Ukraine’s president, and that Vice President Mike Pence was told about the link between Ukraine’s military aid and the investigations that Trump wanted.
Sondland told Congress about other interactions with senior administration officials who have been trying to keep some distance from the scandal. In addition to Pence and Pompeo, Sondland mentioned chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, dragging him further into the circle of people in the know. He also mentioned former national security adviser John Bolton, testifying that Bolton had called him in late August to request Giuliani’s contact information before a visit to Kiev.
The president, of course, took this all this in stride, calmly and professionally assessing his options. No, who am I kidding? He lost his shit on live television with an unhinged, impromptu speech, reading from some of the simplest talking points anyone ever bothered having to write down on paper.
Right now, Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant defense secretary, and David Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, are testifying to Congress, but even the ROM has to rest sometime. I can only take so much, and after watching seven hours of the Sondland testimony, I'm taking a break right now.
Tonight is another Democratic Presidential Debate. This one will be held right here in Atlanta, on Tyler Perry's brand new movie studios on the former Fort McPherson, where I have no small amount of experience. I'll be watching that tonight, so in the meantime, I need to make some dinner and get ready for the next political marathon.
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