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“He was calling for something, calling for an investigation that didn’t exist into the Bidens and Burisma,” Vindman said. “The Ukrainians would have to deliver an investigation into the Bidens.”
Into the Bidens? the investigators pressed.
“To the best of my recollection, yes,” he said. “My visceral reaction to what was being called for suggested that it was explicit. There was no ambiguity.”
Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican, sought to portray Trump’s request for a favor in his phone call with the Ukrainian president as falling short of a demand.
But Vindman disagreed.
“When the president of the United States makes a request for a favor, it certainly seems, I would take it as a demand,” he retorted.
Vindman, a veteran of the Iraq War, then added: “Congressman, as a military officer if my superiors tell me to do something, I take that not as a request , I take that as a demand.”
Unless you investigate these people I want you to investigate, I am not giving you any money. (Money that is not mine to give.) That is extortion.
originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: Oraculi
Unless you investigate these people I want you to investigate, I am not giving you any money. (Money that is not mine to give.) That is extortion.
Sounds like an apt description of Joe Biden's actions.
"This is a direct quote from Ambassador Bolton: 'You go and tell Eisenberg that I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up on this, and you go and tell him what you've heard and what I've said,'" Hill said.
originally posted by: Ksihkehe
a reply to: Oraculi
Saying the same thing 10 different ways doesn't add up to 10x the evidence.
Gordon Sondland, the US's ambassador to the EU, told Vindman that the idea of predicating the White House meeting on Ukraine delivering Trump the political dirt he wanted "had been coordinated with" Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.
Vindman is the third witness so far to point to Sondland's relationship with Mulvaney.
Hill testified that during a July 21 meeting with Ukrainian officials, Sondland "was talking about how he had an agreement with Chief of Staff Mulvaney for a meeting with the Ukrainians if they were going to go forward with investigations."
And George Kent, a top State Department official, testified that Mulvaney coordinated Sondland's presence at high level meetings vis-a-vis Ukraine policy, and that Mulvaney was the one who carried out Trump's directive to freeze military aid.
...
At a later meeting, Sondland once again brought up the investigations Trump wanted and told Ukrainian officials they "would have to deliver an investigation into the Bidens."
Vindman testified that there was "no ambiguity" in his mind about what Sondland was conveying. "He was calling for something, calling for an investigation that didn't exist into the Bidens and Burisma."
Vindman emphasized that Sondland specifically mentioned the Bidens by name when asking for the investigation into Burisma.
Into the Bidens? the investigators pressed.
“To the best of my recollection, yes,” he said. “My visceral reaction to what was being called for suggested that it was explicit. There was no ambiguity.