On Wednesday, Gordon Sondland, the current US Ambassador to the EU, provided an absolutely bombshell opening statement in his testimony to the House impeachment panel. Among the explosive new information he provided was a statement that he’s spoken directly to Vice President Mike Pence about Donald Trump’s marching orders in Ukraine. From Sondland’s opening statement:
There was a September 1 meeting with President Zelensky in Warsaw. Unfortunately, President Trump’s attendance at the Warsaw meeting was cancelled due to Hurricane Dorian. Vice President Pence attended instead. I mentioned to Vice President Pence before the meetings with the Ukrainians that I had concerns that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations. I recall mentioning that before the Zelensky meeting.
During the actual meeting, President Zelensky raised the issue of security assistance directly with Vice President Pence. The Vice President said he would speak to President Trump about it.
In fact, when questioned by House counsel Daniel Goldman, Ambassador Sondland went further, making it clear Mike Pence knew exactly what the investigation was about, even if the Bidens weren’t specifically mentioned.
View the complete November 20 article by Jen Heyden from Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.