AMBASSADOR/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Clutching handwritten notes scrawled with a Sharpie, President Donald Trump on Wednesday [11-20-19] fought back against bombshell impeachment testimony from Gordon Sondland that tied the president even closer to a quid pro quo involving Ukraine and investigations into Trump’s political rivals…Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union and a Trump megadonor, told the House Intelligence Committee earlier in the day that he and other senior aides to the president made it clear to Ukraine officials that they needed to deliver politically motivated investigations Trump sought…Sondland also tied the mission directly to Trump, saying he and other senior officials pressured Ukraine on the investigations ‘because the president directed us to do so.’ But the envoy also told lawmakers that in his conversations with the president — including a September phone call — Trump never explicitly conditioned a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president or security assistance to the Eastern European nation on the probes.”
–Quint Forgey, “‘I don’t know him very well’: Trump fights back against Sondland’s testimony,” Politico, November 20, 2019 5:27 pm