None of Sondland's words will sway Republicans
Ambassador Gordon Sondland caught the Republicans flat-footed at Wednesday's hearing of the House Intelligence committee with his lengthy opening statement, which some have interpreted as confirming the Democratic case that President Donald Trump himself ordered a quid pro quo scheme: a visit to the White House for Ukraine's new president -- and release of held-up aid to Ukraine, Democrats say -- in exchange for his country publicly launching investigations into both Burisma and a conspiracy theory alleging Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.
But then, later in questioning, Sondland muddied those waters by flatly stating that "No one told me the aid was tied to anything. I was presuming it was." Sondland's "best guess" and "presumption" gave the Republicans an important opening from which to operate during the afternoon, as did the fact that some of what Sondland said was contradictory.
This will help the White House keep the GOP in line, even as the media portrays Sondland as a modern-day John Dean. He wasn't.
Sondland also gave credence to an idea that many Republicans hold -- it was a terrible plan to have Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in the middle of this situation. Sondland's testimony is more damning to Giuliani than Trump, as Sondland claimed to have received clear instructions about the conditions for a prospective Trump-Zelensky meeting from Giuliani, but unclear and perhaps even exculpatory instructions from Trump ("I want nothing, no quid pro quo," Sondland recalled the President saying in a conversation after the White House learned about the whistleblower complaint).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/none-of-sondland-s-words-will-sway-republicans/ar-BBX4hkR?ocid=msn360
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