The Trump Impeachment Inquiry: What Happened Today

  • Gordon Sondland, the American ambassador to the E.U., revised the testimony he gave to investigators last month, admitting he told a top Ukraine official that U.S. military aid was contingent on the country’s publicly committing to investigations requested by President Trump.

  • Mr. Sondland said testimony by other witnesses had “refreshed my recollection.” His revised statement, along with a transcript of his testimony, was released today by impeachment investigators. Lawmakers also released the testimony of Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine.

  • Mr. Volker’s transcript shows that, via text, he sent a Ukrainian official the script that the White House wanted President Volodymyr Zelensky to read, including announcing an investigation into Burisma (the energy company that employed Hunter Biden) and a conspiracy theory about the 2016 U.S. election.

  • Lev Parnas, one of the Rudy Giuliani associates who was indicted on campaign finance charges, agreed to cooperate with impeachment investigators yesterday. Mr. Parnas was deeply involved in efforts to oust the former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

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I asked my colleagues Michael Crowley, who wrote a profile of Mr. Sondland a few weeks ago, and Mike Schmidt, who wrote today about the changes in Mr. Sondland’s story.

Why did he change his answers? Did he actually perjure himself?

CROWLEY: Mr. Sondland was always something of a fair-weather friend to Donald Trump. Remember that during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Sondland backed out of a fund-raiser after Mr. Trump attacked a Gold Star family. When Mr. Trump won, Mr. Sondland suddenly became an outspoken advocate for him. Now the winds have shifted again, and in a way that could even involve legal jeopardy — and at a minimum severe embarrassment — for Mr. Sondland. So it now appears that he may be rethinking his loyalties to Donald Trump for the third time in a little more than three years.

Why is Mr. Sondland’s word important at this moment in the investigation?

SCHMIDT: The White House’s initial argument that there was no quid pro quo was based on what Mr. Sondland had said in a text message. His testimony showed that that was truly just a talking point. So hearing Mr. Sondland confirm the quid pro quo enhances the credibility of arguably the most important anecdote in this investigation, which other witnesses have described. Now we have the person directly involved in it saying it under oath.

CROWLEY: His revised testimony is a particularly serious blow to the president. Mr. Sondland is not part of a “Deep State.” He’s not a “radical Democrat.” He’s a political appointee who gave a million dollars to the president’s inaugural. It’s really hard for Mr. Trump and his defenders to explain this away.

The two witness testimonies released today provided new insight into the Trump administration’s Ukraine policy — particularly the outsize role of Mr. Giuliani, whose name appears more than 200 times in the documents. Here’s what we learned.

  • Mr. Sondland told impeachment investigators that he assumed Mr. Giuliani’s campaign to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens was improper and illegal. The allegations Mr. Giuliani was pushing “kept getting more insidious,” Mr. Sondland said, but his diplomacy goals in Ukraine were dependent on making sure Mr. Giuliani was “satisfied.”

  • Mr. Sondland described a circle of top officials exasperated by Mr. Giuliani’s involvement. When he asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about whether Mr. Giuliani had to be involved in Ukraine policy, Mr. Pompeo rolled his eyes and said, “Yes, it’s something we have to deal with.”

  • Mr. Volker told investigators that Mr. Giuliani planted the idea in Mr. Trump’s mind that Ukraine was out to get him. “He gave the example of hearing from Rudy Giuliani that they’re all corrupt, they’re all terrible people, that they were — they tried to take me down — meaning the president in the 2016 election,” Mr. Volker told investigators.

  • Mr. Volker also said that he met with Mr. Zelensky in early July and warned him that Mr. Giuliani’s involvement was problematic. And at a breakfast Mr. Volker had with Mr. Giuliani days before the July 25 call, he told Mr. Giuliani that the negative information he heard about Mr. Biden was misleading and “not credible.”

Read Mr. Sondland’s full testimony, Mr. Volker’s full testimony, and key excerpts from both.

  • Impeachment investigators summoned Mick Mulvaney, the White House acting chief of staff, for an interview this week, though it’s unlikely he will comply. According to other witnesses, Mr. Mulvaney was a key figure in the White House’s attempt to hold up military aid for Ukraine.

  • Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would not read either transcript released today. “I’ve written the whole process off,” he told a CBS News reporter. “I think this is a bunch of B.S.”

  • Two Politico reporters described life outside the corridor where the secret impeachment interviews are being conducted.


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