As Gordon Sondland spoke, Donald Trump suddenly claimed not to know him terribly well
President Donald Trump’s defence against the allegation that he hijacked American policy towards Ukraine in search of a political advantage is that he admitted much of what he was accused of from the start. Even as his defenders denied he had offered President Volodymyr Zelensky a quid pro quo—military aid in return for a corruption investigation into a son of Joe Biden—Mr Trump released an edited transcript of a call between the two leaders that suggested this was precisely what he had done.
Previous witnesses to the impeachment probe being conducted by the House Intelligence Committee had characterised the disruption in American policy towards Ukraine in similar terms. Yet, in the absence of higher-level testimony, some Republicans had tried to characterise this as a rogue play by middle-rankers. Not so, said Mr Sondland.
Mr Schiff’s Republican counterpart Devin Nunes appeared not to know what had hit him. His earlier remarks to Mr Sondland, in which he commiserated with him on being drawn into the Democrats’ “sham impeachment”, suggested he did not expect him to cause trouble. Instead Mr Sondland, looking relaxed and good-humoured, had blown up many of the defences Republicans have tried to surround Mr Trump with.
Yet defending Mr Trump has undoubtedly got harder. An underhand coercion exercise that Republicans have variously claimed did not exist, or had been exaggerated by vindictive liberals, or was carried out by rogue officials, appears to have been extensive and directed by the president.
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