POOL
Washington DC - 20 November 2019
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Castor, Republican Counsel:
"And why don't you tell us, what did the president say to you on September 9th, that you remember?"
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Gordon Sondland, US Ambassador to the European Union:
"Well, words to the effect, I decided to ask the president the question in an open ended fashion, because there were so many different scenarios floating around as to what was going on with Ukraine. So rather than ask the president nine different questions, is it this, is it this, is it that, I just said, what do you want from Ukraine? I may have even used a four letter word. And he said, I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I just want Zelenskiy to do the right thing, to do what he ran on us or words to that effect. And that gave me the impetus to respond to Ambassador Taylor with the texts 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, Ambassador Taylor to pick up the ball and take it from there. I had gone as far as I could go."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Castor, Republican Counsel:
"And you believe the president, correct?"
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Gordon Sondland, US Ambassador to the European Union:
"You know what, I'm not going to characterize whether I believed or didn't believe I was just trying to convey what he said on the phone."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Castor, Republican Counsel:
"Okay, so you're asking Secretary Pompeo whether we should block time and I mean, is there any discussion of specific investigations? Is there any discussion of Biden or Burisma or anything linking to aid in this, in this email that you sent to Pompeo?"
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Gordon Sondland, US Ambassador to the European Union:
"No, this was a proposed briefing that I was going to give President Zelenskiy and I was going to call President Zelenskiy and ask him to say what is in this email. And I was asking essentially President Pompeo's permission to do that, which he said yes."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Gordon Sondland, US Ambassador to the European Union:
"(Castor: Did Ambassador Volker ever relate that to you?)
No, we just talked in generic terms about, quote, investigating Burisma.
(Castor: Okay, but It had nothing to do with Vice President Biden.)
I'd never heard Vice President Biden come up until very late in the game.
(Castor: When?)
I don't recall the exact date, but when it all sort of came together, maybe after the transcript of the July 25th call, I don't know. I don't know the exact date when I made the connection."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Castor, Republican Counsel:
"During your deposition, you you testified that you did not believe the Ukrainians believed the, were aware of the hold until the Politico article."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Gordon Sondland, US Ambassador to the European Union:
"Yeah. Again, I think I think I testified that I was not clear on the exact dates of when these things, when the light went on. There were a lot of conversations going on with the Ukrainians by a lot of people, so I don't know who communicated what to them."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Castor, Republican Counsel:
"The question I have here is that, I mean, that statement never was issued and in fact, Ambassador Volker has testified that he didn't think it was a good idea and ultimately the Ukrainians didn't think it was a good idea. So that statement never reached a finalized state?
(Sondland: That's correct.)"
