What Went Down During Gordon Sondland’s Testimony

Sondland suggests he was just doing what Giuliani told him to, at the request of the president.

This is squishily worded. “I tried diligently to ask why the aid was suspended, but I never received a clear answer. Still haven’t to this day,” said Sondland. “In the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma, as Mr. Giuliani had demanded.” To be clear here, though, Sondland isn’t able to say why the aid was suspended, and he is also being careful in saying it is his own view that the aid was suspended over the investigations.

A key part of Sondland’s defense of his own actions seems to be that a lot of high-level people in the White House (Pompeo, Bolton, etc) knew what he was doing and didn’t object. Among other things, it underscores the absence of these high-level witnesses from the investigation so far.