Gordon Sondland just used his House impeachment testimony to throw Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani under the bus
Last week Donald Trump bent over backward to keep his close ally, U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, from testifying about the Ukraine extortion scandal to the House impeachment inquiry. But after the dam broke and several people began testifying against Sondland, he decided to get in there today and testify after all. It turns out Trump had good reason to be worried about Sondland’s testimony.
Gordon Sondland is giving his verbal testimony behind closed doors right now, and we’ll have to wait until later in the day for details about it to start leaking out. But Sondland’s written opening statement has already been released, and it’s a doozy. Sondland says that he was “disappointed” that Trump blocked him from scheduling a meeting with the new President of Ukraine, and he was also “disappointed” that Trump ordered him and others to go through Rudy Giuliani when it came to Ukraine policy.
Sondland isn’t exactly kicking Donald Trump off a cliff with these words, but he is throwing Trump under the bus. keep in mind that Sondland is a close Trump ally, and yet he’s making a point of distancing himself from Trump’s Ukraine antics, while condemning what Trump did. That’s important, because when even your ally (and alleged co-conspirator) is telling the House impeachment inquiry that he thinks you did something wrong, it means you’re in trouble.
Gordon Sondland also said this in his written opening statement: “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.” This is notable because it directly conflicts with what John Bolton and Fiona Hill have asserted. That’ll have to be sorted out later. But the upshot for now is that Sondland has sold out Trump and Rudy in an effort at saving himself.
