Among the many damning moments of Ambassador Wiliam Taylor’s opening statement to House impeachment investigators this morning: Taylor testified that Ambassador Sondland told him that he, Sondland, had “made a mistake” when he told Ukrainian officials that a White House meeting with Trump was “dependent on a public announcement” of Biden and DNC server “investigations” by the Ukrainian government. In fact, Sondland told him, “everything was dependent” on that announcement: Not just the meeting with Trump, but Trump’s release of congressionally appropriated military funds to the at-war ally.
During his own testimony, Ambassador Sondland attempted to portray himself as being unaware of the corrupt connection between Trump’s demands and his freeze of Ukrainian military aid. All other witnesses, however, have been consistent in describing him as a key figure in furthering Trump’s plot.
Transcript and video below.
Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling Ukrainian officials that only a White House meeting with President Zelensky was dependent on a public announcement of the investigations. In fact, Ambassador Sondland said, everything was dependent on such an announcement including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelensky in a public box by making a public statement about ordering such investigations. The same September 1 call I told Ambassador Sondland that President Trump should have more respect for another head of state and that what he described was not in the interest of either President Trump or President Zelensky.
At that point i asked Ambassador Sondland to push back on president Trump’s demand. Ambassador Sondland pledged to try. I suggested the possibility that Ukrainian prosecutor general rather than President Zelensky would make a statement about the investigations, potentially in coordination with Attorney General Barr’s probe in to the investigation of intern fierce -interference in the 2016 elections: expressed President Zelensky concern about the possible loss of u.s. support for Ukraine. In particular, Mr. Morrison relayed to me that the inability of any U.S. officials to respond to the Ukrainians explicit questions about security assistance was troubling them. I was experiencing the same tension in my dealings with the Ukrainians including a meeting I had had with the defense minister that day. On September 5, I accompanied Senators Johnson and Murphy during their visit to Kyiv. The first question was about withheld security assistance. My recollection of the meeting is that both senators stressed that bipartisan support for Ukraine in Washington was Ukraine’s most strategic asset and President Zelensky should not jeopardize that bipartisan support by getting drawn in to U.S. domestic politics.