Rep. Meadows Noticed House Dem's Frequent References to Gordon Sondland's Testimony; They Should ALL be Asked this Question

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., whose conservative GOP members derailed the Republican health care bill, leaves a closed-door strategy session with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and the leadership as they try to rebuild unity within the Republican Conference, at the Capitol, in Washington, Tuesday, March 28, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), a member of President Trump’s legal team, has been live-tweeting the Senate impeachment trial. On Wednesday, Meadows noticed that lead House manager, Adam Schiff kept “repeating statements from people like Gordon Sondland (the U.S. Ambassador to the EU) and George Kent (Deputy Assistant Secretary at the State Department overseeing European and Eurasian Affairs) who admit they either based their testimony on 3rd and 4th hand accounts, or had zero knowledge at all.” Further, Meadows wrote:

Someone needs to remind Schiff: a few assumptions put together does NOT = a fact

Every time House Democrats reference Gordon Sondland, ALL of them should immediately be asked:

Why are you using the testimony of someone who admitted he had zero evidence, other than his own “presumption?”

Watch for yourself:

Meadows includes a clip from Rep. Mike Turner’s (R-OH) cross-examination of Gordon Sondland during his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Turner began by telling Sondland, “Chairman Schiff ran outside and gave a press conference and said he gets to impeach the President because of your testimony…CNN banner today says, ‘Sondland Ties Trump to Withholding Aid.'”

At the end of the exchange, Turner had extracted from Sondland the critical information that he had merely “presumed” there had been quid pro quo.

Adam Schiff keeps repeating statements from people like Gordon Sondland and George Kent who admit they either based their testimony on 3rd and 4th hand accounts, or had zero knowledge at all.

Someone needs to remind Schiff: a few assumptions put together does NOT = a fact

— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) January 22, 2020

Every time House Democrats reference Gordon Sondland, ALL of them should immediately be asked:

Why are you using the testimony of someone who admitted he had zero evidence, other than his own “presumption?”

Watch for yourself: pic.twitter.com/rdqmJ9eka9

— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) January 22, 2020

Likewise, the RNC’s Rapid Response Director Steve Guest, also noticed that Schiff had “mentioned Gordon Sondland’s testimony a lot today.” He tweeted, “So what did Sondland actually say? There was no quid pro quo. Roll the tapes. Sondland confirms POTUS said no quid pro quo.”

He then prepared a list of seven video clips to support his observation. (All are included below.)

Clips 1 and 2: Sondland describes a very “short, abrupt” conversation he had had with President Trump to Schiff. The call ended with Trump telling Sondland, “I want nothing from Ukraine. I want no quid pro quo. I just want Zelensky to do the right thing.”

Clip 3: Sondland is asked by the Republican’s counsel, Stephen Castor, what the President said to him on September 9th. Sondland describes the call exactly as he did in the previous clips and said, “That gave me the impetus to respond to Ambassador [Bill] Taylor with the text that I sent. As I said to Mr. Goldman, it was not an artfully written text, I should have been more specific, put it in quotes, something like that, but basically I wanted Mr. Taylor to pick up the ball and take it from there. I had gone as far as I could go.”

Clip 4: Sondland tells Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman, “I never heard from President Trump that aid was conditioned on an announcement.”

Clip 5: Sondland speaks to Castor and agrees the president never told him “any preconditions for anything.”

Clip 6: Sondland confirms to Rep. Elise Stephanik (R-NY) that Ukraine aid and a meeting were given without investigation.

Clip 7: Sondland confirms to Castor that Ukraine aid was released without any investigation.

So, there’s the Democrats’ star witness.

I’m sure when President Trump’s legal team gets their opportunity to present their case, all of these clips will be played for the Senators.

In the meantime, many Americans are tuning out. The best description I’ve heard so far of the proceedings, currently starring Schiff, came from Fox News Jesse Waters, who said it’s like having someone vacuuming in the room. I can understand that.

THREAD.

Adam Schiff has mentioned Gordon Sondlands' testimony a lot today.

So what did Sondland actually say?

There was no quid pro quo.

Roll the tapes.

Sondland confirms POTUS said no quid pro quo pic.twitter.com/e9vrn25Hmh

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 22, 2020

Sondland confirms POTUS told him: “no quid pro quo”pic.twitter.com/FExNxmRUro

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 22, 2020

Sondland agrees the president never told him “any preconditions for anything” pic.twitter.com/3GaEMuJZ5a

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 22, 2020