-Today might have been the most devastating day
of the Trump presidency so far.
A key witness to the Ukraine scheme provided evidence
that there was a quid pro quo
and that it was ordered by the President himself.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Today we heard from Trump's hand-picked ambassador
to the European Union, a guy named Gordon Sondland.
Sondland's testimony was explosive, shocking,
and jaw-dropping, and if you don't believe me,
let's just fast-forward to the moment when after Democrats
finish questioning Sondland,
the camera cut over to GOP Congressman Devin Nunes.
-That concludes our 45 minutes.
I now recognize Mr. Nunes.
-Oh. -Okay.
Why don't we take a 5- or 10-minute break?
-Thank you.
-Man, look at his face.
[ Laughter ]
He looks like he just walked in on his parents having sex
with someone else's parents.
[ Laughter ]
There's only two explanations to that face.
Either he just heard lengthy testimony
detailing a criminal scheme so shocking it could bring down
the presidency of Donald Trump,
or he sharted and he's trying to remember
how far away his backup pants are.
[ Laughter ]
Sondland's testimony didn't just go straight to President Trump
but also involved virtually everybody at the highest levels
of the administration.
Sondland named every name in the book.
-Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker,
Rudy Giuliani, Secretary Pompeo, Brian McCormack,
Ms. Kenna, Chief of Staff Mulvaney,
Rob Blair, Vice President Pence, A$AP Rocky.
-He named A$AP Rocky! [ Laughter ]
Sondland name-checked virtually all of Trump's senior aides,
Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney,
and Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Even the White House janitor was like, "Am I gonna go to jail?"
[ Laughter ]
In short, today we learned yet again
that the entire Trump White House
is basically one giant criminal conspiracy.
This was like the "Wizard of Oz" of impeachment testimony.
"You were there, and you were there,
and you were there too, mate!
You were the scarecrow!"
[ Laughter ]
Now, before we get to the rest of today's bombshell testimony,
it's important to provide some context for why today
was the most shocking day of testimony so far.
Throughout this impeachment process,
we've been watching the Republican argument
morph in real time,
which makes sense because Trump always looks like he's morphing.
He looks like an animorph
who's halfway between human and bobcat.
[ Laughter ]
For example, you'll recall that Trump began by insisting
there was no quid pro quo with Ukraine
and that his phone call with the president of Ukraine,
in which Trump literally said the words,
"I would like you to do us a favor" was perfect.
But as the impeachment process has proved,
it definitely was not perfect.
Republicans have changed their argument.
For example, yesterday two credible witnesses
who were on Trump's call called it
unusual, inappropriate, and improper.
And even a Republican witness,
a national security official named Tim Morrison,
said straight up that Sondland had told him
Trump was holding up the aid to Ukraine in exchange for
a promise from Ukraine to announce publicly
that they were investigating Trump's political rivals.
-What did Ambassador Sondland say to tell you
that he told Mr. Yermak?
-That the Ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general
make a statement with respect to the investigations
as a condition of having the aid lifted.
-There you go. That's literally a quid pro quo.
Republicans actually thought calling this guy as a witness
would be a good idea.
They thought he would help their case, but he only made it worse.
It's like if you murdered a guy
and called his ghost as your witness.
[ Laughter ]
"He's the one who killed me!"
"Damn it, ghost!"
[ Laughter ]
"I thought you were on my side!" [ Laughter ]
So, after Tuesday's hearings,
Republicans decided to change their argument again.
A house GOP aide described the change of messaging this way.
It has gone from "there is no quid pro quo"
"to there's a quid and quo but not a pro,"
to "even if there was a quid pro quo, it's not that bad.
This is just how things are done.
You can say it's bad, but it's not impeachable."
My God, look how much their argument has changed.
This would be like if you got pulled over and said,
"I wasn't speeding. Okay, I was speeding.
Everyone speeds. I was late for my job.
I work at the hospital. So does my wife.
And she's having a baby, and I was barely speeding.
Fine, I was really speeding and my wife's not pregnant,
and I don't have a wife.
And also I'm drunk -- on cocaine."
[ Laughter ]
Which brings us to today's hearing.
Remember Sondland, hand-picked by Trump.
He's a businessman who donated a million dollars
to Trump's inaugural committee
and he was a central figure in Ukraine policy.
In fact, according to Morrison,
officials in the Trump administration
even coined a term for Gordon Sondland's role
in Ukraine policy.
-Among the discussions I had with Dr. Hill
were about Ambassador Sondland.
I think she might have coined it "the Gordon problem."
-That's what they called it, "the Gordon problem?"
That sounds like a indie movie about a single guy in his 40s
starring Ben Stiller.
[ Laughter ]
So today Sondland had the chance to respond.
Again, Sondland, a key middleman between Trump and Ukraine,
and he wrote down what was happening
in several infamous text messages,
and he started out his testimony by stating
clearly and unequivocally that everything they did,
they did at the direction of the President himself.
-Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker, and I
worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters
at the express direction of the President of the United States.
We followed the President's orders.
We worked with Mr. Giuliani because the President
directed us to do so.
-He literally said over and over
"the President told us to do this."
And I believe it because no one would work with Rudy Giuliani
unless they were ordered to. [ Laughter ]
Working with Rudy is like when your mom makes you hang out
with her friend's weird son.
"Why don't you take Rudy to the mall with you?"
"Because he smells like onions and he never stops screaming!"
After Sondland made clear he carried out
the President's orders, he went on to explain specifically
that what Rudy Giuliani wanted was definitely a quid pro quo,
and that he did it specifically
because that's what Trump wanted.
-Mr. Giuliani's request were a quid pro quo
for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky.
Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement
announcing the investigations
of the 2016 election DNC server and Burisma.
Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires
of the President of the United States,
and we knew these investigations were important to the President.
-There it is. He just said it.
This was a quid pro quo, and it definitely makes sense to me
that Rudy was expressing the desires of the President.
Rudy looks like the devil on Trump's shoulder
except Trump would never need a devil.
"You should commit quid pro quo."
"Way ahead of you, tiny devil!"
[ Laughter ]
Again Sondland made clear that Trump had specifically directed
his administration, people that actually work for
the U.S. government and get paid with your taxpayer dollars
to orchestrate a quid pro quo with Rudy Giuliani,
who has no official government role.
And Sondland said they were not happy about it.
-President Trump directed us to "talk with Rudy."
We understood that "talk with Rudy" meant
talk with Mr. Rudy Giuliani, the President's personal lawyer.
Let me say again.
We weren't happy with the President's directive
to "talk with Rudy."
-Of course they weren't happy.
No one is happy to talk to Rudy. [ Laughter ]
If you get cornered by Rudy at a party, your only option
is to pretend you're choking
and even then Rudy would only make things worse.
"I know the Heimlich. Look! I can do it on myself!"
[ Laughter ]
But this brings us to a crucial point.
It wasn't just Trump and Rudy.
Sondland made it clear that a number of high-level officials
in the Trump White House
and some people outside the White House were aware of
what was happening as it was happening.
Sondland said he had e-mails to support his account,
and again, Sondland specifically used the words "quid pro quo."
-These e-mails show that the leadership
of the State Department, the National Security Council,
and the White House
were all informed about the Ukraine efforts.
I shared concerns of the potential quid pro quo
regarding the security aid with Senator Ron Johnson.
We kept the leadership of the State Department and the NSC
informed of our activities.
And that included communications with Secretary of State Pompeo.
They knew what we were doing and why.
Everyone was in the loop.
Again, everyone was in the loop.
-Think about that. He just said everyone was in the loop,
which makes clear once again that these guys
are the worst criminals in the world.
They orchestrated an illicit scheme
to pressure a foreign country
to interfere in a presidential election,
and they basically sent out a staff-wide e-mail
CCing everyone.
Subject -- "Crimes." "Hey, y'all, we're doing crimes.
Wanted to make sure you all know about the crimes.
If you have questions about the crimes,
please e-mail crimes@whitehouse.gov/crimes."
Sondland also said... [ Laughter and applause ]
...he also said he reviewed other State Department documents
that had been previously not made public,
which must have scared the hell out of Giuliani and Trump.
-I've reviewed other State Department documents,
some of which are not currently in the public domain,
detailing Mr. Giuliani's efforts.
-The only part of that sentence that shocks me
is they weren't in the public domain.
Remember, Giuliani's already done multiple TV interviews
where he literally held up his phone and his iPad
to show off his communications with Trump offi--
I mean, I'm shocked Rudy didn't come sprinting into the hearing
with his phone in his hands, screaming,
"He's right! I missed one! It's right here!
I got a selfie of me in Ukraine with a shirt that says
'I love quid pro quos!'"
[ Laughter ]
Sondland also provided damning firsthand accounts
of his conversations with Trump himself and had very specific
recollections of phone calls he had with the President
where he asked him what was going on.
-I thought it was a very bad idea to hold that money.
I finally called the President.
I believe I just asked him
an open-ended question, Mr. Chairman.
"What do you want from Ukraine?
I keep hearing all these different ideas and theories
and this and that.
What do you want?"
And it was a very short, abrupt conversation.
He was not in a good mood.
-That doesn't surprise me. Trump's never in a good mood.
He only has two modes.
He's either screaming at reporters
on the White House lawn or glaring directly
into the camera like a burglar caught on a doorbell camera.
I mean, look at him.
Compare his face to the face Nunes is always making.
Nunes looks like a mailman who just saw a Rottweiler
and Trump is the Rottweiler.
[ Laughter ]
Now, Sondland had multiple conversations with Trump.
For example, you might remember the infamous phone call
Sondland had with Trump in which Trump was overheard asking
Sondland directly about the investigations he wanted.
A State Department official who was with Sondland at the time
also testified that he overheard Sondland
tell Trump that the President of Ukraine
would do anything for him and that he "loves your ass."
And again, Sondland confirmed
that he did indeed say that to Trump.
-He also testified that you confirmed to President Trump
that you were in Ukraine at the time
and that President Zelensky "loves your ass."
Do you recall saying that?
-Yeah, it sounds like something I would say.
[ Laughter ]
Putting it in Trump-speak by saying he "loves your ass,
he'll do whatever you want"
meant that he would really work with us.
-And that's the President we got.
[ Laughter ] I mean, the one who likes to
know how foreign leaders feel at any given moment about his ass.
"Show them that picture of me getting on the helicopter.
I think it looks really good in that one."
[ Laughter ]
Now, today Trump responded to Sondland's testimony
on his way to Texas
confirming that he spoke to Sondland by phone.
But at first his account of that call made no sense whatsoever.
-Just a quick comment on what's going on in terms of testimony
with Ambassador Sondland, and I just noticed one thing,
and I would say that means it's all over.
"What do you want from Ukraine?" he asks me.
Screaming, "What do you want from Ukraine?
I keep hearing all these different ideas and theories."
This is Ambassador Sondland speaking to me.
Just happened, to which I turned off the television.
"What do you want from Ukraine?
I keep hearing all of these different ideas and theories.
What do you want? What do you want?
It was a very short and abrupt conversation
that he had with me.
They said he was not in a good mood."
I'm always in a good mood. I don't know what that is.
-First of all, that's the worst audition for a school play
I've ever seen. [ Laughter ]
"Just so you know, I'm not off book."
Second, you're never in a good mood.
You're literally screaming right now.
You can't scream, "I'm always in a good mood."
That's a sentence that refutes itself.
That's like a librarian screaming,
"Everyone keep your [bleep] voices down!"
[ Laughter ]
Now, Trump went on to quote Sondland's testimony.
Sondland said that after months
of following the President's explicit orders to carry out
the quid pro quo he and Rudy wanted,
he called Trump to get a straight answer.
Now, to be clear, this call happened after the whistleblower
wrote their report and officials expressed concern
about what Trump was doing.
So Trump suddenly changed his tune
and he told Sondland, "Never mind.
Forget about all of that quid pro quo stuff."
-It was a very short, abrupt conversation.
He was not in a good mood.
And he just said, "I want nothing. I want nothing.
I want no quid pro quo.
Tell Zelensky to do the right thing,"
something to that effect.
This is the final word that I heard from
the President of the United States.
-So here's my answer.
I want nothing. I want nothing.
I want no quid pro quo.
Tell Zelensky to do the right thing.
Then he says, "This is the final word from
the President of the United States."
-Yeah, but no, it's not.
You already got caught.
That doesn't make you sound innocent.
That sounds like the way a criminal talks
when he thinks his phone is tapped.
"I want nothing, certainly not a quid pro quo
since that would be illegal.
And now I'm off to church because I'm a good boy."
[ Laughter and applause ]
But if you're looking for one single image
to capture everything that happened today,
I direct you to this photo of
Sondland looking directly into the camera
during a break in the hearing.
Damn, I mean, he smelt it and dealt it.
[ Laughter ]
He looks like he's in the opening credits
of "The Real Housewives."
[ Laughter ]
"My name is Gordon.
I may not quid or quo, but I'm definitely a pro."
[ Laughter ]
Seriously, he looks like he just threw a match on a building
soaked in gasoline.
[ Laughter ]
Today was certainly the most devastating day
in the impeachment process so far,
and perhaps the most devastating day
in the Trump presidency,
a key witness to the corrupt quid pro quo
said he was following the orders of the President
and named several senior officials
who also knew about the scheme
and the Republican defense crumbled before our eyes.
This is it.
If Republicans had any integrity at all,
they'd look at the evidence and tell Trump...
-That means it's all over.
-This has been "A Closer Look."