Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, acknowledged telling one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s advisers that resumption of U.S. aid was tied to an anti-corruption pledge sought by Trump.
The acknowledgment in a deposition released Tuesday was a reversal from his earlier testimony. It puts Sondland in the middle of what national security officials saw as an attempt by the White House to leverage nearly $400 million in security assistance for investigations that could benefit President Trump politically.
The transcript of the deposition was one of two released by House investigators Tuesday as they continue to probe Trump’s efforts to press for an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
First, we had the whistle-blower. Couldn't see his face, so he couldn't be believed.
Next, we had the career diplomats. Couldn't believe them, because they were never-Trumpers, deep-Staters and Democrats.
Now we have the President's hand-picked man, telling us there was a quid pro quo.
Here's what Trump had to say on the subject in a tweet yesterday:
False stories are being reported that a few Republican Senators are saying that President Trump may have done a quid pro quo, but it doesn’t matter, there is nothing wrong with that, it is not an impeachable event. Perhaps so, but read the transcript, there is no quid pro quo!
Got that? It doesn't matter if the President proposed a quid pro quo, because it is not an impeachable event. Not that he did a quid pro quo, mind you, just read the transcript!
So, the goalposts move once again. Quid pro quo is not an impeachable offense. It will be interesting to see how Republicans respond to this. When you can't blame it on the deep state, never Trumpers or Democrats, what's left?