The Goat Pen

hedge wrote: ↑Wed Nov 20, 2019 1:50 pm From Sondland's opening statement: "I know that members of this committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a 'quid pro quo'? With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes."

"He [Trump] was not in a good mood. And he just said 'I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Just tell Salensky to do the right thing."

Congressman Turner: After you testified, Chairman Schiff ran out and gave a press conference saying and said he gets to impeach the President of the United States because of your testimony, and if you pull up CNN today, right now their testimony says 'Sondlin ties Trump to withholding aid." Is that your testimony today Ambassador Sondlin, that you have evidence that Donald Trump tied the investigation to the aid, because I don't think you're saying that.

Ambassador Sondlin: I've said repeatedly said, congressman, I was presuming. I also said that...

Turner: So no one told you, not just the President, Guiliani didn't tell you, Mulvaney didn't tell you, Pompeio didn't tell you, nobody else on this planet told you that Donald Trump was tying aid to these investigations, is that correct?

Sondlin: I think I already testified to that.

Turner: Then answer the question. Is it correct that no one on this planet told you that Donald Trump was tying this aid to the investigations. If your answer is yes, then the Chairman is wrong, and the headline on CNN is wrong. No one on this planet has told you that President Trump was tying aid to the investigation. Yes or No?

Sondlin: Yes.

11:30 am Ambassador Sondland has taken a commanding lead over 8:30 am Ambassador Sondland in the latest polls.

8:30 am Ambassador Sondland had surged to an early and commanding lead, when he stated clearly that Trump had sought a quid quo pro with the Ukrainians according to CNN and MSNBC polls.

But after a slow start, 11:30 Sondland began his comeback after admitting that Trump actually told the Ukrainian President "I don't want any quid pro quo. Just do the right thing." 11:30 Sondland then tied 8:30 Sondland in the polls when he said, "I assumed" and "I gathered" and "I presumed" there was a quid pro quo between Trump and Ukraine. At the end of yesterday's hearings, polls showed 11:30 Sondland had begun to take the lead when 8:30 Sondland said no one in the White House had ever ordered him to tie military aid to investigating Burisma.

In today's hearings, 11:30 Sondland surged ahead of 8:30 am Sondland when the latest witness, Fiona Hill attacked 8:30 am Sondland in her testimony. Ms Hill testified that Sondland was not an opponent to Trump's allegedly impeachable actions, but was actually complicit in them. She said 8:30 Sondland "was being involved in a domestic political errand and we were being involved in national security foreign policy, and those two things had just diverged." This public criticism of 8:30 Sondland caused his poll numbers to drop markedly. By contrast, 11:30 Sondland's poll numbers remain steady.

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