Oh, you meant *that* quid pro quo!
Gordon Sondland, hotelier, US ambassador to the EU, Republican mega-donor, and second fiddle to Rudy Giuliani, had a change of heart and changed his testimony in regards to the infamous call Donald Trump made to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. And by "change of heart," I mean, "Oh, shit, Trump's going down and I'm not going down with him."
The transcript to his deposition in front of the impeachment inquiry was released today. However, he added a four-page amendment to his testimony, in which he throws the entire Trump regime under the bus. He did deliver an extortion demand to Zelensky's aide, Vice President Mike Pence was in the loop about the entire escapade, and Donald Trump is fucked ten ways to Sunday.
This was the shakedown smoking gun, the quid pro quo howitzer, the extortion M1 Abrams.
Sondland may be a venal lickspittle who wouldn't piss on a poor person were she on fire, but being such he also has a keen sense of self-interest. He can see where the wind is blowing, and it's blowing straight up the regime's sphincter. He wasn't about to get caught on the wrong side of the line. It's more than even money that either this administration will implode before too much longer, or that it will be ushered out ignominiously next November and replaced by a Democratic administration which will be looking to ensure that something like Trump never happens again to the Republic, and to be seeking to make signal examples of malefactors, both big and small. It was already patently obvious that his testimony didn't jibe with that of other witnesses. And I'm sure his wife, who is accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and may even love him and not want to see him in prison come 2021, urged him to recall the events he'd conveniently forgotten.
Will this move the supine GOP to jettison Trump? Probably not, although one can hope. But add this to the mounting list of awful news for him. Yesterday it was Mazar's having to turn over his taxes to a Manhattan grand jury. That will be appealed to the Supreme Court, but if I were a betting man, Chief Justice John Roberts won't want to get near it with a ten foot pole, and might convince two of his fellow conservatives to vote with the liberal bloc and refuse to hear the case. What's happening has a twofold effect: To make Trump such damaged goods that he and the GOP will lose in a rout in 2020; and to put the evidence out there so that he and his regime do not escape justice after they're shown the door.
Happy Tuesday evening, patriots! Have a cold wet one on me!