This overheard conversation with Ambassador Sondland and T was a big revelation tying T ever closer to being the source of the Impeachment scandal - T, who only wanted to kick up some dirt on Biden. That personal motive on T’s part in order to win the 2020 is not in the national interest, and therefore an impeachable offense. End of story.
Whether the new ‘witness,’ David Holmes, an aide to Taylor will be able to testify remains to be seen, the constant of this impeachment process is the R’s throwing up roadblocks to getting any first-hand testimony.
And the other constant for the R’s is deny, refute and offer the ‘so what’ strategy…saying it really was nothing is what they will die by. Each new witness, particularly Amb Sondland has to weigh what his liability is in telling the truth whether it be jail time, or serious damage to their future careers.
The R’s keep a tight lock on their ‘loyalty’ chain…and let’s hope some might be willing to break with this mob technique. How low will they go…so far, it’s pretty darn low.
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“The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking
Ambassador Sondland about ‘the investigations,’ ” Taylor told lawmakers, adding that he understood that they were following up on the matter a day after Trump spoke with Ukraine’s new leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. “Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.” Taylor said that at the conclusion of the call, his aide asked Sondland what Trump thought of Ukraine and Sondland responded that “President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden.”
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White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham echoed the GOP attempt to play down the diplomats’ testimony as mere hearsay.
“The latest ‘evidence’ is an anonymous staffer who told someone he overheard someone else talking to POTUS on the phone,” she said in a statement Wednesday. “All the ‘evidence’ in this case is 2nd and 3rd hand hearsay.”
Democrats pushed back against that argument, pointing out that the White House has blocked testimony from key witnesses with firsthand information, including Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton.
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Whatever the GOP counsel is doing, it’s not working. I don’t under[s]tand where he’s going,” wrote Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush.
At one point, Castor sought to play down conversations with Ukraine that took place outside the normal State Department channels of communication, saying that they could have been even more abnormal.
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Democrats have scheduled testimony from several additional witnesses, many of whom have already testified privately that they were bewildered and concerned by Trump’s decision to withhold the aid over the summer. Marie Yovanovitch, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who Kent said was targeted by a Giuliani-led “smear campaign,” is scheduled to testify Friday.
Sondland, who is slated to testify on Wednesday, has previously amended his closed-door testimony to confirm that he told Ukrainian officials that military aid and an Oval Office meeting were conditioned on a public announcement of corruption investigations.
Taylor’s testimony raises the stakes for Sondland, who will certainly be asked about the July 26 phone call in which Trump allegedly inquired about “investigations.”
And a whole lot of “nothing to see here.” from R’s
