The president expected Ambassador Sondland to exonerate him today. In reality, Sondland has implicated him and senior members of his cabinet in a vast criminal conspiracy.

Implicated:

• President Donald Trump
• Vice President Pence
• Rudy Giuliani, unofficial Trump adviser
• Rick Perry, Sec. of Energy
• Mike Pompeo, Sec. of State

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“THREAD. I’ve read the Sondland Testimony, and boy is it devastating to Trump. Remember, this is the one guy Trump pointed to to exonerate him. Excerpts and quick analysis below.”

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2.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“1.Sondland begins by expressly saying he worked with Giuliani at Trump’s express request, and that he didn’t want to work with Giuliani but felt he had to given Trump’s order.”

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3.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“2.Sondland then explicitly confirms the quid pro quo – and SAYS THIS WAS DONE BECAUSE OF THE PRESIDENT’S DESIRES”

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Neal Katyal on Twitter

“3. Sondland then says cutting off of military aid was wrong, + that Ukraine needed those funds to fight off Russian aggression. But he says the quid pro quo to look into Burisma superceded policy goals. Sondland says he brought quid pro quo concerns to Congress, to Sen Johnson”

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5.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“4.Sondland describes a totally irregular foreign policy led by private lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and suggests that Sec. Pompeo knew about it but didn’t stop it.”

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6.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“5.Sondland now magically remembers the phone call with Trump he failed to mention in his previous testimony (perhaps because other witnesses have reported it to Congress in the interim, and say they overheard it because it took place in a restaurant).”

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7.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“6.Just to make absolutely sure, Sondland then details once again there was a quid pro quo, in a separate section of his testimony devoted entirely to it.”

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8.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“7.Sondland says he told Vice President Pence about the quid pro quo around Sept 1.”

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9.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“8. Sondland repeatedly implies that Pompeo knew the scheme, and that he and NSC were in the loop.”

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10.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“9.BOTTOM LINE 1: Sondland gets closer to telling the truth today, largely because he was caught lying to the committee. Whether this is enough to save him from liability is doubtful. He's already “supplemented” his testimony once to magically remember stuff he forgot to disclose”

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11.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“10.BOTTOM LINE 2 But it is the nail in the coffin on Trump’s claims that his phone call with Ukraine was perfect and that there was no quid pro quo.”

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12.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“11.LOOK FOR IN THE QUESTIONING 1: Sondland omits everything about that highly scripted September 19 set of text messages with Ambassador Taylor saying there was no quid pro quo. That was the exchange Trump pointed to earlier to try to exonerate him, but …”

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13.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“12. media later reported Sondland & Taylor were texting every few minutes, then all of sudden Sondland stopped, spoke w/ Trump spoke on the phone, and then hours later sent a “no quid pro quo message.” Expect Schiff to drill down hard here. What will Sondland say about that?”

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14.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“13.LOOK FOR IN THE QUESTIONING 2: Sondland testified in October (below) he was not aware of preconditions on Ukraine aid. His testimony today completely changes his story and says he was aware of Burisma as a precondition. How does he explain that? Was pressure placed on him?”

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15.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“14.LOOK FOR IN THE QUESTIONING 3: Sondland in October testified he wasn’t aware of Trump’s demands about Biden. But Holmes testified directly to the contrary. Compare these 2 snippets—one from Sondland in Oct and one from Holmes.”

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16.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“15. House now has to subpoena their former colleague Pompeo, I suspect.”

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17.

Neal Katyal on Twitter

“16.This is just a 1st pass. But my sense is that Sondland did not come close to helping himself enough given his earlier testimony. Questioning will be withering. Sondland is not going for a pardon at this point, so his best bet is to tell the truth in response.”

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