Huffington Post headline is deeply misleading
The non-Trump media hurts itself when it bolsters Trump talk of "Fake News." This is disappointing. Worse, it is dangerous to our democracy.
Here is the headline:
What is the reality of his testimony.????
Read it yourself, but I will summarize it. He observed that the President wanted him to coordinate Ukraine policy through Giuliani and reluctantly did so. He was aware of no linkage of a meeting between the two leaders or of military aid to Ukraine with investigation of Biden.
He recalled Giuliani mentioning Burisma and wanting it investigated, but had no idea that Burisma related to Hunter Biden.
He had a brief talk with Trump who, Sondland said, sounded angry, and who repeated "no quid pro quo" several times. He said the strange text that he wrote to Ambassador Taylor that said to stop texting was not an effort to cease making a written record and was simply an effort to speed up communication by talking rather than making cryptic texts.
That last matter may not be plausible, but that was his testimony.
Bottom line: Whatever else one might say about this testimony, Sondland did not "Slam Trump."
He recalled Giuliani mentioning Burisma and wanting it investigated, but had no idea that Burisma related to Hunter Biden.
He had a brief talk with Trump who, Sondland said, sounded angry, and who repeated "no quid pro quo" several times. He said the strange text that he wrote to Ambassador Taylor that said to stop texting was not an effort to cease making a written record and was simply an effort to speed up communication by talking rather than making cryptic texts.
That last matter may not be plausible, but that was his testimony.
Bottom line: Whatever else one might say about this testimony, Sondland did not "Slam Trump."
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"Let me state clearly: Inviting a foreign government to undertake investigations for the purpose of influencing an upcoming U.S. election would be wrong.
ReplyDeleteWithholding foreign aid in order to pressure a foreign government to take such steps would be wrong.
I did not and would not ever participate in such undertakings. In my opinion, security aid to Ukraine was in our vital
national interest and should not have been delayed for any reason."
In reading the statement, clearly written by lawyers, he is distancing himself and minimizing his involvement in the chain of events but this passage aligns with what other GOP politicians are saying. It's gentle language but it does infer a rebuke.
What would a "slam", be? I'm not sure, but this is probably as close as we will get from a Republican. "Disappointed" is pol-speak for "shocked". From this it also seems like he was mostly sidelined by the professionals.
Not even sharp enough to realize he should have resigned, not even now.