Ambassador sondland says under oath there was no shadow. Were all bad apples, were a whole pile of bad apples, that is a watergate tape with better sound quality. R knowing trumps behavior patterns, it has been especially in new york the loudest voice gets the biggest headline and gets to drown out the truth, a story, or cover something back. He has been the president of distraction and that has really been one of the biggest marks of this presidency in addition to being the president who is the president for themselves and not thees people. What is fascinating here is it is almost like he is going back
to a play book that worked for him towo get elected. It has worked, so i think this is one of the differences with water gate. There was a time when we, the American Public, were getting all of the same information. And inio a vastly different wor now were not getting all of the same information about the facts that we should be. One thing the president is good at doing is creating his
I want to tone things down a little bit here and First Express my gratitude for the thousands of men and women who work every day on the front line with the fbi. I come from a background as a prosecutor and our local Law Enforcement work with the fbi every day in our local office in minnesota, and then in the senate, ive had the privilege to work with many, many people in the fbi. And i think the Inspector General hes job is incredibly important. He keeps everyone honest. But i do think this it is important for those t agents an those in Law Enforcement that are watching today that people understand there are people up here that understand that you are simply doing your jobs. Which i think is basically some recommendations Foric Change Wh the Inspector General found in this report. So before iis start my question
i think that it is important to put this discussion in context in the 2016 election which is why we are here today. It is nowe undisputed by our Intelligence Agencies that rus
Republican and then what happens . Yeah, and then at that point, any member can simply say they move to offer an amendment. And when they offer an amendment, they have to actually provide the next of that language to the clerk. The amendment could be read aloud before all of the members of The Committee. And then each of the members can simply say they want a chance to talk and to speak about that particular amendment. And as you said, there are 41 members of this committee. 40 are expected to attend one is not, ted lieu because of health issues. Hes not expected to be here this week. But each of those members could speak. That could take time for each individual amendment. When that amendment is voted down which we expect because republicans are expects to offer amendments, democrats are happy with these articles and dont plan to do that. Thats why this is unpredictable how this contentious day will play out, wolf. 40 members now. Ted lieu had some medical issues. We wish him a speedy
Now, turning attention to the ron johnson letter if i may. Yes. On august 31st, Senator Johnson is getting ready to travel to ukraine on September 5th with senator murphy. And he wanted johnson wanted the aid released, he calls the president , he actually sought permission to be the bearer of good news. Right. The president said, im not ready to lift the aid. And they had this Senator Johnson. He writes a ten page letter, very detailed. And he gives some remarkable deta detail. And id like to read it, its on page 6. I add this is Senator Johnson speaking, i asked him whether there was some kind of arrangement where ukraine would take some action and the hold would be lifted. Without hesitation Senator Johnson says, President Trump immediately denied such an arrangement existed. And he started cursing. And he said no way, President Trump said no way, i would never do that. Who told you that . And Senator Johnson goes on to say that President Trumps reaction here was adamant, vehement an
That if he was acting corruptly, wrongfully, that it was unlikely he was going to confess to president zelensky that he was asking for the investigations explicitly to help his prospects . In my experience, you almost never have a defendant or someone who is engaging in misconduct who would ever explicitly say in this case, president zelensky, im going to bribe you now or im going to ask for a bribe for i am now going to extort you. That is not the way these things work. Thank you. And going back to you, you said hunter biden had been on the board going back to 2014, correct . Yes. President trump supported ukraine with aid and otherwise in both 2017 and 2018, correct . President trump has done a lot for the ukraine. Taking a break from the
hearing for breaking the news on the doj watchdog report. Has just out, Inspector General Michael Horowitz as anticipated, his longawaited report on the russia investigation. We are just getting it now, live at the Justice Department with what we ar