It was what many are characterizing today as a “John Dean moment” in the public impeachment hearings of Donald J. Trump. His $1 million donor turned swamp-dwelling Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, dropped some bombshell testimony on Wednesday — and we do not use that word on The BradCast lightly. [Audio link to today’s show follows below.]
Sondland, who Trump described as “a really good man and great American” as recently as last month, admitted in his blockbuster testimony that the President’s scheme to withhold a White House meeting and $391 million in military aid to Ukraine in exchange for the announcement of investigations into his political rivals was, in fact, a “quid pro quo”.
Moreover, Sondland tossed a whole bunch of top Trump officials and allies under the bus in the bargain — including Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Vice President Mike Pence and, especially, the President of the United States himself. “Everyone,” he said, “was in the loop. It was no secret.” He explained that he “followed the directions of the President” when he “worked with Mr. Giuliani” on the Ukraine pressure campaign “because the President directed us to do so.” That, barely two months after Steve Doocy of Trump’s favorite TV show, Fox & Friends, declared: “If the President said ‘I’ll give you the money, but you gotta investigate Joe Biden — that is really off-the-rails wrong.”
We were joined once again today, just moments after the Sondland hearing concluded, by our official BradCast partner-in-impeachable-crimes, the great HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Digby’s Hullabaloo, with extended explosive excerpts of today’s testimony, along with insight and analysis. Our special coverage continues with the remarkable events that transpired on Wednesday in the U.S. House Intelligence Committee’s ongoing impeachment proceedings on what may well prove to be an historic day (or the long-awaited beginning of the end?) for the shamefully failed Presidency of Donald J. Trump…
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[audio:http://BradBlog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_Impeachment_HeatherDigbyParton-GordonSondland-QuidProQuoBombshell_112019.mp3]
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By the way I love the final cut. Shawn Patrick Maloney sure has a way with words holding the other guys feet to the fire, with unfeigned severity. That’s the backbone we’ve been waiting for. Continuity of thought very important as juxtaposed to the BS we’ve been enduring from the bolviators.
Maloney has been killer in these hearings. Just killer. Wish there were more Dems in Congress like him — at least in that regard. I believe there are some progressives that don’t care for him, as his record may be more conservative than they like. But his instincts and ability in Congressional hearings should vault him to leadership of — for example — the Oversight committee, IMO.