Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged Thursday afternoon that the Trump administration held up U.S. military aid to Ukraine in part because of the president’s request for that country to investigate a Democratic National Committee server.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New tonight: After Bolton shut down the meeting where Sondland offered Zelenskiy a meeting if he reopened the investigation, Sondland took Ukrainians to the White House basement to talk "next steps."

So Bolton sent in Fiona Hill, who heard them talking Burisma.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1067861?__twitter_impression=true

Sondland’s explicit conditioning of a meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump prompted Bolton to direct then-Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill to report the situation to White House lawyers. Although some details about the meeting had been previously disclosed, this account provides the most extensive chronology to date of the chain of events that led Bolton to call the shadow Ukraine policy aimed at advancing Trump’s political interests “a drug deal,” as NBC News has reported.

Oh wow, imagine a scenario where Bolton is less despicable than someone else. What a time!

Anonymous wrote:New tonight: After Bolton shut down the meeting where Sondland offered Zelenskiy a meeting if he reopened the investigation, Sondland took Ukrainians to the White House basement to talk "next steps."

So Bolton sent in Fiona Hill, who heard them talking Burisma.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1067861?__twitter_impression=true

Sondland’s explicit conditioning of a meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump prompted Bolton to direct then-Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill to report the situation to White House lawyers. Although some details about the meeting had been previously disclosed, this account provides the most extensive chronology to date of the chain of events that led Bolton to call the shadow Ukraine policy aimed at advancing Trump’s political interests “a drug deal,” as NBC News has reported.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting story on NPR on Sondland this morning. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/17/770405439/gordon-sondland-the-ambassador-whose-texts-put-him-at-the-center-of-ukraine-scan

He is the son of German immigrants who escaped Nazi Germany. Really wanted an ambassadorship - maybe in his mind it was his way of paying back the US for "saving" his family. He was anti-Trump in the beginning but then saw a path forward to get that ambassadorship he always wanted. Probably pretty naive and definitely over his head in diplomacy. Hopefully he's recognized that and will come clean to keep himself from going down with the ship.

In the meeting, Bolton told the Ukrainian officials that the White House didn’t want to commit to a meeting ahead of parliamentary elections in Ukraine scheduled for the following month, because it was unclear whether Zelenskiy would have a governing majority, the individuals familiar with the situation said.

But Sondland interjected, the individuals said, saying he already had a commitment for Trump to meet with Zelenskiy — if the new Ukrainian president would launch the investigation Trump had been seeking.

Anonymous wrote:Exactly. By the time of the July 25th call, the Ukranians knew something was up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New tonight: After Bolton shut down the meeting where Sondland offered Zelenskiy a meeting if he reopened the investigation, Sondland took Ukrainians to the White House basement to talk "next steps."

So Bolton sent in Fiona Hill, who heard them talking Burisma.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1067861?__twitter_impression=true

Sondland is in a serious box now with contradictory public comments to what others have apparently testified to. Given what came out last night. it seems clear Bolton and Perry are coming clean. Sondland flipping would be the smoking gun to end this nightmare.

And Volker was seen going back into the House hearing room yesterday, reportedly to "review" his transcript. The 3 amigos are working on getting a coherent story. Sondland better come clean because Bill Taylor is testifying next week, and he can fill in the gaps in the texts.

Volker has reason to review the transcript of his testimony based on the questioning by Schiff.....I would want to be sure the record accurately reflects my statements as well.

In a secret interview, Rep. Adam Schiff, leader of the House Democratic effort to impeach President Trump, pressed former United States special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker to testify that Ukrainian officials felt pressured to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter as a result of Trump withholding U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Volker denied that was the case, noting that Ukrainian leaders did not even know the aid was being withheld and that they believed their relationship with the U.S. was moving along satisfactorily, without them having done anything Trump mentioned in his notorious July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

When Volker repeatedly declined to agree to Schiff's characterization of events, Schiff said, "Ambassador, you're making this much more complicated than it has to be."

Schiff wanted Volker to agree that "if it's inappropriate for a president to seek foreign help in a U.S. election, it would be doubly so if a president was doing that at a time when the United States was withholding military support from the country."

Again, Volker did not agree. "I can't really speak to that," he said. "My understanding of the security assistance issue is — "

Schiff interrupted. "Why can't you speak to that, ambassador? You're a career diplomat. You can understand the enormous leverage that a president would have while withholding military support from an ally at war with Russia. You can understand just how significant that would be, correct?"

Volker tried to go along without actually agreeing. "I can understand that that would be significant," he said.

Schiff persisted. "And when that suspension of aid became known to that country, to Ukraine, it would be all the more weighty to consider what the president had asked of them, wouldn't it?"

"So again, congressman, I don't believe — " Volker began.

"It's a pretty straightforward question," Schiff said.

"But I don't believe the Ukrainians were aware that the assistance was being held up — "

"They became aware of it," Schiff said.

"They became aware later, but I don't believe they were aware at the time, so there was no leverage implied," Volker said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/schiff-pressed-volker-to-say-ukraine-felt-pressure-from-trump

Funny that article was written yesterday afternoon after Volker "reviewed" his transcript. Maybe Volker is trying to get the message to Sondland as to what his testimony should be?

Is Volker getting nervous that Sondland is going to be completely honest and spill the beans?