U.S. Politics: Gar Nicht Trump's Traumschiff!

[DMC]

10 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I'm glad he's doing this, but it's also really hard to see the rational reason for this flip. 

Methinks he saw Roger Stone convicted on all counts of lying to Congress and his lawyer told him best thing you can do now is tell the truth.

[Fez]

7 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I'm kind of amazed.  Surely if you were in this deep with the Trump administration you're already on board/complicit with breaking some laws?  What's a little perjury going to matter? 

I'm glad he's doing this, but it's also really hard to see the rational reason for this flip.  Is it that he actually has some scrap of integrity?  Because this seems like it'll torpedo his career and possibly exposes him to different perjury charges from his initial statement under oath (although I doubt it will come to that). 

His successful hotel chain is almost entirely located in the heart of the downtown of cities like Portland and Seattle. He relies on liberal customers, and has been facing an enormous backlash and an ongoing boycott of his properties. I've no idea if its been enough to make a dent in his actual cash flow, but I imagine he's at least worried about it. And, unlike Trump, he can't make up for any loss of business with bribes from foreign governments.

Also, just looking at his wikipedia page, it's a little weird he decided it would be a good idea to donate money and become a Trump ambassador at all. He was part of a former Oregon Democratic governor's transition team, was heavily involved involved in the Oregon film industry, and attacked Trump back during the primary over his attacks at the Khan family.

Plus he probably saw what happened to Roger Stone last week.

He has no incentive to protect Trump.

[Raja]

Nunes thinking democrats are going to smear Sondland is strange - clearly didn't get a copy of that opening statement

Edit: To be fair, nunes is dumber than my shoe.

[Ormond]

13 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I'm kind of amazed.  Surely if you were in this deep with the Trump administration you're already on board/complicit with breaking some laws?  What's a little perjury going to matter? 

I'm glad he's doing this, but it's also really hard to see the rational reason for this flip.  Is it that he actually has some scrap of integrity?  Because this seems like it'll torpedo his career and possibly exposes him to different perjury charges from his initial statement under oath (although I doubt it will come to that). 

Gordon Sondlund doesn't have a career to torpedo. He is a wealthy hotel developer who got his job by being a big donor to Trump. He has no diplomatic career to protect, and is a multimillionaire.  I have heard commentators on CNN or MSNBC say several times that his changing his testimony by claiming to have had his memory "refreshed" actually protects him from perjury charges for the initial testimony. He is trying to avoid ending up like Roger Stone.  Of course, there is also the chance he has some integrity after all.

[Maithanet]

8 minutes ago, Fez said:

His successful hotel chain is almost entirely located in the heart of the downtown of cities like Portland and Seattle. He relies on liberal customers, and has been facing an enormous backlash and an ongoing boycott of his properties. I've no idea if its been enough to make a dent in his actual cash flow, but I imagine he's at least worried about it. And, unlike Trump, he can't make up for any loss of business with bribes from foreign governments.

Plus he probably saw what happened to Roger Stone last week.

 

6 minutes ago, Ormond said:

Gordon Sondlund doesn't have a career to torpedo. He is a wealthy hotel developer who got his job by being a big donor to Trump. He has no diplomatic career to protect, and is a multimillionaire.  I have heard commentators on CNN or MSNBC say several times that his changing his testimony by claiming to have had his memory "refreshed" actually protects him from perjury charges for the initial testimony. He is trying to avoid ending up like Roger Stone.  Of course, there is also the chance he has some integrity after all.

Interesting, did not know that. 

[Trebla]

ALWAYS a tweet.

 

[Fragile Bird]

I certainly believed that the Republicans were going to throw Sondland under the bus to protect Trump, and I don't think it was too hard for Sondland and his lawyers to see that as well, so he decided to throw everyone under the bus first. That's a very defensive move at this point in time.

But already under Shiff's questions he's being a bit of a weasel. Time will tell.

eta: Sondland sure does have a memory block on ever using the word 'Biden' or 'Bidens'.

[Raja]

They're going to say that 1. Burisma had questionable doings 2. Trump called him to investigate burisma & not biden 3. Hence it's not for personal gain & therefore nothing wrong in what trump did.

[Fez]

2 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

eta: Sondland sure does have a memory block on ever using the word 'Biden' or 'Bidens'.

He needs to be consistent that he didn't know that investigating Burisma meant investigating Biden; otherwise he's extremely at risk for perjury charges from his original deposition.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

 

1 hour ago, DMC said:

Sondland's opening statement text is out.  Sounds like he done flipped, confirming basically all the damaging testimony involving him, specifically characterizing it as a quid pro quo, and emphasizing he was acting on the express orders of the president.

Called it last week. There’s no chance in hell a billionaire, noble as they are of course, falls on his sword for someone who isn’t a close family member. Especially when you know the other party will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat if they thought it would buy them five seconds of freedom.

[Fez]

Just now, Tywin et al. said:

 

Called it last week. There’s no chance in hell a billionaire, noble as they are of course, falls on his sword for someone who isn’t a close family member. Especially when you know the other party will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat if they thought it would buy them five seconds of freedom.

Now, in fairness here, his Sondland's net worth is between $78-$185 million. So his conduct does not speak to the nobility, or lack thereof, of the billionaire class.

[Fragile Bird]

Sondland's opening statement was a well-crafted piece of work, obviously carefully written by his lawyers. Now that he is being questioned, he's fumbling a bit.

eta: I expect we will hear Nunes sarcasm today and AngryShoutingVoice Jordan

[DMC]

Given how many people are probably googling him this morning, A$AP Rocky should pay Sondland's legal bills.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

16 minutes ago, Fez said:

Now, in fairness here, his Sondland's net worth is between $78-$185 million. So his conduct does not speak to the nobility, or lack thereof, of the billionaire class.

I could of sworn that I read that he was a billionaire. What’s this pleb doing testifying then?

Also, just now he rolled on everyone.

[Trebla]

This kinda destroys that "The President was just interested in rooting out corruption" defense, no?

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, DMC said:

Given how many people are probably googling him this morning, A$AP Rocky should pay Sondland's legal bills.

*ESPN 30 for 30 voice*

What if I told you, that a phone call, over a third rate rapper, brought down a president.

[DMC]

 

[DMC]

Never thought I'd see a ranking member in an impeachment hearing essentially filibuster because he can't come up with any questions to ask the witness that would defend the president.

[Zorral]

Woo -- From a White House Correspondent prior to Bedbug on his way to Austin.

Not watching the hearings, but I am having them on in the background, though a pretty foregrounded background!

The voices, particularly from the rethugs, reveal so much.  Out of rethugs, furious confusion. Total dependency on talking for faux to present to the base -- hatred of the boss, sham, kangaroo court, whistleblower, lying Schiff, conspiracies, fake conspiracies, the deep state, and so on.

[Fez]

Supposedly Sondland has a ticket on the 530pm flight from Dulles to Brussels this afternoon. This seems incredibly poor planning on his part; has he not seen how long most of these sessions have gone thus far?

My best guess, he needs to be out of there by 3pm at the absolute latest to make the flight, and even that's cutting it close. I wonder if he'll start getting a bit testy/looser with his answers as the questions drag on closer to then.