released text messages between sondland and other diplomats. in one exchange, senior u.s. diplomat bill taylor writing i think it s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. sondland replying over four hours later. i believe you are incorrect about president trump s intentions. the president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind, adding i suggest we stop the back and forth by text. i am concerned about that we are undergoing right now a cover-up by individuals who are close to the president or in the president s administration. reporter: after weeks of the president verbally attacking the original whistle-blower. the whistle-blower was so dishonest. reporter: cnn has learned that the house intelligence committee is discussing ways to protect their identity. they are considering using a secret offsite location for future testimony, limiting who can be present, and even obscuring the whistle-blower s face and voice. the fact of t
to talk to him about these discussions. here to discuss, jessica engle, dana bash. this is about sondland and what he would have to testify about. the most senior in ukraine texts about, quote, help for a political campaign. he calls it, quote, crazy. the eu replies after several hours with this. quote, bill, i believe you are incorrect about president trump s intentions. the president has been crystal clear no quid pro quos of any kind. he said, what s going on
relationship was deeply intertwined with the president s desire for ukraine to investigate joe biden and his son. the group messages sondland is on are full of references to rudy giuliani, the president s personal lawyer assigned to pushing a biden conspiracy theory that has zero supporting evidence. on september 1st, the ambassador to ukraine asked sondland if hundreds of millions of dollars and military assistance were conditioned on investigations. sondland responded call me. a week later, the ambassador told sondland, i think it s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. sondland denied it was, saying president trump has been crystal clear. no quid pro quos of any kind. the president is trying to evaluate whether ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms. sondland has ended up in the hot seat in washington after a career in business. like president trump, building
kangaroo. reporter: a source familiar said the decision to silence sondland is part of an aggressive impeachment strategy. the defiant posture comes as the president continues to insist his call was perfect. the people understand it s a scam. they are trying to win an election in 2020 by using impeachment. if you look at that call, it s a perfect call. reporter: democrats are zeroing in on an exchange of texts between sondland and bill tailor who appeared worried the administration was holding up aid to ukraine around the time of the july 25th call. i said i think it s crazy to with hold security assistance for help with the campaign. the president has been crystal clear no quid pro quos of any kind. i suggest we stop the back and forth by text. before he sent the response he called the president.
ukrainian s president the first whistleblower wrote a call. describing the call to which they did not have first hand knowledge as quoted crazy, frightening and completely lacking in substance related to national security. now democrats are trying to protect the whistleblower s identity according to the the washington post. including testifying from a remote location and concealing their voice and appearance. this as the u.s. ambassador to the eu gordon sondland goes behind closed doors this morning. lawmakers want to dig deeper will text messages. sons land is pushing back against allegations of a quid pro quo. someone responded pushing back saying the president has been crystal clear no quid pro quos of any kind. meanwhile, democrats widening the scope of the impeachment inquiry subpoenaing the secretary of defense and acting director of the omb. the president is continuing to rail against it? impeachment inquire i have a scam. the mistake they made, the