Opening Statement of Ambassador Gordon D Sondland (November 20, 2019)

[mia]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/read-gordon-sondland-s-explosive-opening-statement-impeachment-hearing-n1086621

Link to PDF

...I don’t intend to repeat my prior opening statement or attempt to summarize ten hours of previous deposition testimony. However, a few critical points have been obscured by noise over the last few days, and I’m worried that the “bigger picture” is being ignored. So, let me make a few key points.

First, Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker and I worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the President of the United States. We did not want to work with Mr. Giuliani. Simply put, we played the hand we were dealt. We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the President’s orders.

Second, although we disagreed with the need to involve Mr. Giuliani, we did not believe that his role was improper at the time. As I previously testifed, if I had known of all of Mr. Giuliani’s dealings or of his associations with individuals now under criminal indictment, I would not have acquiesced to his participation. Still, given what we knew at the time, what we were asked to do did not appear to be wrong.

Third, let me say: precisely because we did not think that we were engaging in improper behavior, we made every effort to ensure that the relevant decision makers at the National Security Council and State Department knew the important details of our efforts. The suggestion that we were engaged in some irregular or rogue diplomacy is absolutely false. I have now identified certain State Department emails and messages that provide contemporaneous support for my view. These emails show that the leadership of State, NSC, and the White House were all informed about the Ukraine efforts from May 23, 2019, until the security aid was released on September 11, 2019. I will quote from some of those messages with you shortly.

Fourth, as I testified previously, Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President....

[intrepidity]

1. Uh oh nt

[OnDoutside]

2. Considering he joined in the plot to taint the Bidens, this shows Sondland's character.

"And I also worked briefly with former Vice President Joe Biden’s office in connection with the Vice President’s nationwide anti-cancer initiative at a Northwest hospital."

[safeinOhio]

3. I think he is a jr. trump.

Money, deals, luxury and power. Don't think he would like jail.

[OnDoutside]

5. Yes, jail is for the little people.

[bitterross]

11. Yep, he's trying keep his sorry ass out of jail.

It's clear he doesn't want to go to jail.

[mia]

13. He must not be counting on a presidential pardon either.

It looks like he is forsaking Trump in favor of the United States.

[Hekate]

16. More likely forsaking Trump in favor of staying out of federal prison

"The prospect of being hanged in the morning wonderfully concentrates the mind"
from Samuel Johnson

[Mike 03]

4. This is something

Right off the bat he goes after the State Dept and WH for denying him access to documents relevant to his testimony including it looks like his own emails and texts.

[OnDoutside]

6. Yeah, it looks like a CYA effort for his previous lies.

[mia]

9. He followed the directions of Trump "at all times".

Finally, at all times, I was acting in good faith. As a presidential appointee, I followed the directions of the President. We worked with Mr. Giuliani because the President directed us to do so. We had no desire to set any conditions on the Ukranians. Indeed, my personal view -- which I shared repeatedly with others -- was that the White House meeting and security assistance should have proceeded without pre-conditions of any kind. We were working to overcome the problems, given the facts as they existed. Our only interest was to advance longstanding U.S. policy and to support Ukraine’s fragile democracy.

[bitterross]

12. That defense didn't work at Nuremberg

Illegal orders are not made legal by the dear leader commanding them. People need to get that through their thick heads.

[mia]

7. Fifth,

...in July and August 2019, we learned that the White House had also suspended
security aid to Ukraine. I was adamantly opposed to any suspension of aid, as the Ukrainians needed those funds to fight against Russian aggression. I tried diligently to ask why the aid was suspended, but I never received a clear answer. 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. I shared concerns of the potential quid pro quo regarding the security aid with Senator Ron Johnson. And I also shared my concerns with the Ukrainians....

[Trueblue Texan]

8. Can we all say...

GREAT JOY IN THE MORNING!!!!

[mia]

10. Joy in the morning!

[MartyTheGreek]

14. Then why were you Mr. EU Ambassador assigned to coordinate the president's orders?

-What were you plans for Ukraine if any regarding joining the EU?
-What did Trump offer you besides the EU Ambassador position?
-Did or do you have any side deals going discussed before or during your tenure?

Lastly Sir, your below statement is totally BS! -Because your Master told you that Ukraine was bad for Trump and they were bad because they set-up Manafort! And, your new oligarchs friends don't like them either.

"We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the President’s orders."

-From a man who bought his way to an unassigned but detailed project to sanitize 2016, create a false narrative, spring Manafort from jail because it was a set up, absolve Putin from 2016 and lift sanctions for all oligarchs!

[pecosbob]

15. You gave two million of your own money to get your boy elected...

then you took an ambassadorship to the EU in return. Then you proceeded to muscle an allied government, not one you were assigned to, but one that your boy wanted to shakedown, one that was recently invaded and currently partially occupied by your boy's BFFs, the Russians. You helped your boy's lackeys try to force the Ukrainian gas industry to place a pro-Trump/pro-Russian officer on it's board of directors. You helped Trump and Putin attempt to frame Joe Biden and his son. You didn't think there was anything wrong in all this...that this was the way government is run.

Well, I hate to break it to you pal, but your two mill is gone, you will will likely be removed from your position, and you're may go to jail very soon.