What Went Down During Gordon Sondland’s Testimony

Up until now, we’ve been eager to hear from Sondland because he spoke directly to Trump. Sondland has said that a lot of his understanding came from speaking with Giuliani, although of course he did speak to Trump, who made it clear to him that he wanted investigations into Burisma and the 2016 election. I think the question now becomes: will the press/Democrats/Republicans turn to Giuliani, or will this satisfy everyone’s questions about what the president wanted and what conditions he put on a White House meeting and aid?

Sondland, a direct participant in the Ukraine policy, has basically confirmed the outlines of the narrative we knew from press accounts and other witnesses: the president’s personal lawyer was directing government officials, at the president’s behest, to tie U.S. policy that might benefit Ukraine to Ukraine announcing investigations that would damage Biden.

Well, my takeaway is that this isn’t great for Trump. Sondland said there was a quid pro quo. He said that Trump directed them to do what Giuliani said in all Ukraine matters — and that seems significant. Sondland says that Trump himself never told Sondland directly that he needed investigations in order to release aid, but the fact that he was ordered to follow Giuliani’s lead and that Giuliani was pushing for these investigations as a condition for the release of the aid … well, doesn’t that basically mean Trump was pushing for those things, with Giuliani as his mouthpiece?