were already on edge before this news. so let s do a round-up of how it s playing. let s begin on capitol hill. cnn s senior congressional correspondent manu raju. what else are we expecting from sondland? we expect gordon sondland to throw rudy giuliani under the bus. but the question is, will he throw the president under the bus as well? that s going to be a big question today because according to witness testimony after witness testimony, gordon sondland had direct interactions with the president and then sondland later told other witnesses that the president himself had essentially linked military aid to ukraine in exchange for this public declaration by the ukrainians to announce investigations into the president s political rivals. now the question is will sondland confirm those accounts or will he say as he did in his closed door deposition, he did not recall some of those key accounts. already amend his testimony saying he later remembered in september he had a conversation w
slon sondland, the eu ambassador, whether he s going to tell a story today that is different than this is just a matter of policy and preferences. there he was when he just entered moments ago. we believe that the testimony is going to begin at the top of the hour so stay with cnn. this is a day to remember. (vo) the moth without hope, struggles in the spider s web.
defense department and david hale from the state department. they ll testify how unusual it was how they handled this military aid, how it was held up, how she wasn t informed about some of those key decisions. and david hale will provide information about the ousted ambassador marie yovanovitch. despite this pressure campaign from giuliani s smear campaign to get her out from the post. in just under an hour, gordon sondland will deliver that key testimony providing information. we ll see about what he says about those conversations with the president and how involved the president was in holding the ukraine aid over that country until it announced those investigations. look, this is going to be a very interesting day because, by all indications, manu, gordon sondland is not going to shoulder the blame for this ukraine campaign. so how does he distribute the responsibility? we ll see soon.
reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any u.s. government official for testifying before congress, including you or any of your colleagues. if you would please rise and raise your right hand. i will begin by swearing you in. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? let the record show the witness has answered in the affirmative. thank you and please be seated. the microphone is sensitive so please speak directly into it. without objection, your written statement will be made part of the record and with that, ambassador sondland, you are now recognized for your opening statement. thank you, mr. chairman and thank you ranking member nunes. i appreciate the opportunity to speak again to the members of this committee. first, let me offer my thanks to the men and women of the u.s. department of state who have
house. even got two democrats to vote against authorizing the investigation. i m looking at what might potentially move moderate republicans or democrats either way. and the key thing here, i think is still the why and sondland may be able to shed light on the why. what was in the president s head. what was in sondland s head. now that sondland knows a lot more because he s watched and read testimony, does he think that what happened was wrong? does he think that what the president did was wrong or right? and what are the challenges here is we still haven t seen a white house narrative. still haven t seen a republican narrative about what they say is going on. i think that may have to change pretty soon. jeffrey, his lawyer is well regarded here in washington with a lot of experience in dealing with these kinds of matters and i m sure he s giving him some very strong advice. good advice in general is to tell the truth. that s just sort of my