Ambassador Gordon Sondland, described by numerous prior witnesses as playing a pivotal role in pressuring the Ukrainian government to open conspiracy-theory premised "investigations" into the Democratic National Committee servers and potential election opponent Joe Biden, has now dramatically revised his previous recollections of his involvement in those acts.
In his opening statement, Sondland made it clear that he indeed told Ukrainian officials that a public announcement of those investigations was required before Donald Trump would release congressionally approved military aid to the country. He made it clear that he was not working a "back channel," but was working with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top officials. "Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret."
And he made it clear that he and the others were explicitly following Donald Trump's orders. From his remarks as given:
Let me make a few key points. First, Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker, and I worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the President of the United States.
We did not want to work with Mr. Giuliani. Simply put, we were playing the hand we were dealt. We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose a very important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the president's orders.
Second, although we disagreed with the need to involve Mr. Giuliani, at the time, we did not believe that his role was improper. As I previously testified, if I had known of all of Mr. Giuliani's dealings or associations with individuals, some of whom are now under criminal indictment, I personally would not have acquiesced to his participation. Still, given what we knew at the time, what we were asked to do did not appear to be wrong.
Third, let me say, precisely because we did not think we were engaging in improper behavior, we made every effort to ensure that the relevant decision-makers at the national security council and the state department knew the important details of our efforts. The suggestion that we were engaged in some irregular or rogue diplomacy is absolutely false.
While Sondland still insists that he did not believe he was engaging in a criminal act at the time, his testimony confirms that Trump personally ordered and directed the "quid pro quo" in which military aid was linked to two investigations intended to damage Trump's political enemies.
Sondland also testified, upon questioning by Rep. Adam Schiff, that Donald Trump was demanding a public announcement of those investigations, not the investigations themselves. This clearly demonstrates that Trump was not interested in any actual investigation of claimed "corruption" by Ukraine—only in creating a public belief that his personal opponents were being investigated.