Gordon Sondland testified that Vice President Mike Pence knew about the Ukraine plot weeks before the Trump/Zelensky phone call.
Here was the exchange:
Q: Now, in this email to secretary Pompeo, you reference a trip to Tripoli. Ultimately the vice president went on that trip?
Sondland: That’s correct.
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Q And that was the conversation that you talked about, or you testified earlier to, where you said that we really need to get these investigations from Ukraine in order to release the aid in the pre-meeting?
Sondland: That’s correct.
Q: And vice president pence just nodded?
Sondland: He heard what I said.
Q: And didn’t respond in any way?
Video:
Gordon Sondland testifies that Mike Pence knew about the Ukraine plot weeks before Trump/Zelensky call. #Sondland #Sondlandtestimony pic.twitter.com/lVZM8aK12I
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 20, 2019
The Pence team responded with an extremely parsed statement:
JUST IN- VP Pence chief of staff statement contradicting Sondland's impeachment hearings testimony:
“Ambassador Gordon Sondland was never alone with Vice President Pence on the September 1 trip to Poland. This alleged discussion recalled by Ambassador Sondland never happened."
— Kambree Kawahine Koa (@KamVTV) November 20, 2019
Pence is claiming that the conversation never happened.
House Democrats already set this trap by asking Sondland at the testimony if the meeting was held with a group of Americans? Sondland said that it was, which means that there are witnesses besides Pence and Sondland to this conversation.
When Trump is running a scam, Mike Pence always seems to be near.
Sondland’s testimony has implicated the whole upper level of the White House in the Ukraine plot.
Mike Pence isn’t going to save the Republican Party. The Vice President is going down with the ship.
Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association