Month: November 2019

Sondland Blames Trump Administration for Inconsistencies in Testimony

Buck Banks

“I have not had access to all of my phone records, State Department emails and other State Department documents. And I was told I could not work with my EU Staff to pull together the relevant files.” He added that he has never been a “note-taker,” meaning the absence of this information made his recollections even more difficult.

— Ambassador Gordon Sondland blamed inconsistencies in his previous testimony saying repeatedly that the State Department and the White House didn’t allow him access to the things he needed to provide accurate previous testimony.

Republicans’ Impeachment Agenda, According to Schiff

Buck Banks

“My Republican colleagues, all they seem to be upset about with this is not that the president sought an investigation of his political rival, not that he withheld a White House meeting and $400 million in aid we all passed in a bipartisan basis to pressure Ukraine to do those investigations. Their objection is that he got caught. Their objection is that someone blew the whistle, and they would like this whistleblower identified, and the president wants this whistleblower punished. That’s their objection. Not that the president engaged in this conduct, but that he got caught.”

— House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, quoted by The Week.

2018 Dem Wave Rode Flow of Dark Money

Buck Banks

$141 million

The “green wave” of campaign cash that boosted Democrats and liberal causes in 2018 included an unprecedented gusher of secret money, new documents obtained by Politico show. “The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a little-known nonprofit headquartered in Washington, spent $141 million on more than 100 left-leaning causes during the midterm election year, according to a new tax filing from the group.”

Akerman: ‘Trump Is Toast’

Buck Banks

“Donald Trump is toast.”

— “Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman on Monday predicted Donald Trump will be doomed by EU ambassador Gordon Sondland’s upcoming congressional testimony in the impeachment inquiry into the president,” the HuffPost reports. Akerman claimed Sondland has “got no choice here” but to “come clean” about his role and Trump. He added: “Otherwise he’s gonna wind up like Roger Stone in federal prison, with Roger Stone as his roommate. I mean, he does not want that to happen.”