Gordon Sondland’s day in the hot seat just got longer and hotter. In his Congressional appearance tomorrow, he’ll be asked about a number of issues, most importantly about the many ways in which he posed a risk to national security. There was also the matter of trump dictating the “no quid pro quo” text message. He was expected to deny any knowledge that advocating for a Burisma investigation was a politically-motivated smear campaign against Hunter Biden:
Sondland appears poised to say that he and other diplomats did not know that the request to mention Burisma was really an effort to impugn the reputations of Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a Burisma board member. Sondland contends that he didn’t know about the Biden connection until a whistleblower complaint and transcript surfaced in late September.
That’s not gonna fly. Sondland was overheard discussing Burisma with Ukrainian officials in the context of a meeting between Zelenskiy and trump. The incident has been reported before, but not in such detail:
Sondland’s meeting with the Ukrainians just steps away from the White House Situation Room came minutes after a larger West Wing meeting that included then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, who had been noncommittal about scheduling a meeting between Trump and new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Sondland directly contradicted Bolton by telling the Ukrainians that in fact, Trump was committed to meeting with Zelenskiy on the condition he open a corruption investigation, two people told about the matter tell NBC News.
Bolton abruptly ended the meeting.
But, the individuals say, Sondland then invited the Ukrainian officials to continue the conversation separately, escorting them to a private room in the White House basement, the individuals said. That’s when Sondland was overheard discussing Burisma Holdings, whose board of directors former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden joined in 2014.
Sondland’s explicit conditioning of a meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump prompted Bolton to direct then-Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill to report the situation to White House lawyers. Although some details about the meeting had been previously disclosed, this account provides the most extensive chronology to date of the chain of events that led Bolton to call the shadow Ukraine policy aimed at advancing Trump’s political interests “a drug deal,” as NBC News has reported.
He knew. And they knew he knew. He can’t hide behind the ignorance excuse anymore.
In case you’re wondering what type of weasel Sondland is, he’s overseeing a nearly $1 million renovation of his government-provided residence, paid for with taxpayer money. Seriously:
The work on the ambassador’s home on the outskirts of Brussels includes more than $400,000 in kitchen renovations, nearly $30,000 for a new sound system and $95,000 for an outdoor “living pod” with a pergola and electric heating, LED lighting strips and a remote-control system, government procurement records show.
The State Department also has allocated more than $100,000 for an “alternate” residence for Sondland for September and October, while work is performed.
His temporary digs will cost $50,000 a month? Yeesh…
Two former U.S. officials said Sondland delighted in the trappings of being an American ambassador in Brussels.
There are more gaudy details in the article, but there’s one thing the oligarch wannabe hasn’t requested — a gold-plated toilet.
What he actually deserves — chrome-plated handcuffs.
Updating to add link to his prepared statement and article about it. He changed his tune a bit:
But I did not understand, until much later, that Mr. Giuliani’s agenda might have also included an effort to prompt the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the President’s 2020 reelection campaign.
So he’s dropped his claim that the first he’d heard of the smear campaign was via the whisteblower and call summary. Good idea, considering that lying to Congress could become a big deal. But his ass looks less covered. I hope they ask him about the discrepancy between his original statement and the new one.