Sean Patrick Maloney finally got Gordon Sondland to say it
Based on the written opening statement that was released this morning, it was clear that Gordon Sondland was looking to sell out Donald Trump and the entire Trump regime before he even sat down. Sondland has since gone on to spell out how Trump ordered him to work with Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine, and that it was indeed a quid pro quo. But throughout the day, there was one thing Sondland didn’t want to say.
Gordon Sondland repeatedly stated that it was wrong for Donald Trump to have tried to push Ukraine into launching some kind of investigation into Joe Biden. But for whatever reason, Sondland didn’t seem to want to specifically acknowledge that a Ukrainian investigation into Biden would have benefitted Trump.
Several hours into Sondland’s testimony, after he’d already done significant damage to Donald Trump, Democratic Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney decided that he was going to force Sondland to finally say it. Maloney pushed and pushed until Sondland finally blurted out that Trump would be the one to benefit from the Ukraine extortion scheme. The audience in the House chamber then broke out into enthusiastic applause.
Gordon Sondland then told Congressman Maloney that he resented the tactics that were being used. But Maloney pushed back by pointing out that Sondland has revised his sworn testimony multiple times over the past month, only reluctantly admitting the truth today under threat of perjury charges. This pretty much shut Sondland up.
