On Wednesday, Ambassador Gordon Sondland told House impeachment investigators that he worked with Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine at the “express direction” of President Donald Trump and pushed for a political “quid pro quo” with Kyiv because it was what Trump wanted. Sondland testified of his dealings with Trump’s personal attorney that “Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president.”
Sondland, the most highly anticipated witness in the public impeachment probe, made clear that he believed Trump was pursuing his desire for political investigations in return for an Oval Office meeting.
Sondland said he specifically told Vice President Mike Pence he “had concerns” that U.S. military aid to Ukraine “had become tied” to the investigations. Sondland testified in opening remarks, “Everyone was in the loop” and “it was no secret.” However top Pence aide, his chief of staff Marc Short, denied that the conversation between the vice president and Sondland occurred, saying it “never happened.”
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