At several points during Ambassador Sondland’s testimony, he indicated Vice President Pence was involved in some scheme to hold back aid and a White House meeting for investigations.
During the testimony, Sondland indicated he had actually had a conversation with Pence, something the Vice President vehemently denied in real-time.
Did NOT Happen
Sondland, during the hearing, stated, “I mentioned to Vice President Pence before the meetings with the Ukrainians that I had concerns that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations.
“During the actual meeting, President Zelensky raised the issue of security assistance directly with Vice President Pence.
“The Vice President said he would speak to President Trump about it.
“Based on my communications with Secretary Pompeo, I felt comfortable sharing my concerns with Mr. [Andriy] Yermak [an aide to Zelensky].
“In a very brief pull-aside conversation, that happened within a few seconds, I told Mr. Yermak that I believed that the resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine took some kind of action on the public statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”
As Sondland testified about the alleged conversation, Pence’s office stated, “The vice president never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations.
“Ambassador Gordon Sondland was never alone with Vice President Pence on the September 1 trip to Poland.
“This alleged discussion recalled by Ambassador Sondland never happened.”
Completely Unreliable
Sondland had testimony that helped both sides, but Americans are going to have to decide if Sondland is a reliable witness or not.
He admitted during his testimony that he has never been a note-taker and is relying on testimony of others for his own recollections.
So, in essence, if those people are lying or mistaken, David Holmes comes to mind, Sondland’s current testimony would be mistaken.
For me, personally, Sondland was a wash save a few statements where he could readily recollect the details himself, such as his phone call with Trump when Trump specifically told him there was to be “no quid pro quo” with President Zelensky.