And I can’t imagine that he’s going to make a confident statement that he never heard the word “Biden” unless he’s positive that there isn’t any out there.
So maybe it’ll be the nuanced “I don’t recall hearing that name mentioned” during sworn testimony.
Also, I think his testimony is scheduled for Thursday. This is a great leak-ahead to vet this claim thoroughly. If someone digs something concrete up, he can always change his mind before Thursday.
He’ll just say that he was doing other things, wasn’t paying attention to whatever Giuliani was saying on whatever show.
He was aware because Giuliani has been talking about it publicly since at least April. Are these testimonies under oath? If they are this guy is inviting a perjury charge for no good reason.
His wife could take half of his Hotel Empire. Chump could cost him the whole thing. He is already facing boycotts from some of his hotelier partners and there is a Dem congressman calling for a boycott if he doesn’t testify fully.
This. Reading the WaPo writeup on him from upthread, he’s been playing with both sides over the years, trying to get an ambassadorship from someone. He’s not a True Believer like some of the others, this was all about the prestige of being able to be called “Mr. Ambassador” on his business card for the rest of his life.
He’s going to squeal and probably cry during his testimony.
Forgot that point, true. So was trying to collect an even better title. But either way, not a true believer in the cause, he’s just along to collect titles and feel important.
He knew it was about Burisma, he knew that that somehow would impact the 2020 election.
Whether or not he knew specifically that it targeted Biden (and whether he was so incurious that he never asked what the significance of Burisma was) is totally superfluous to the crime.
There’s no upside to him lying about this detail, and plenty of potential downside.
Schiff and Co. already have copies of exchanges involving (1) Sondland, (2) others inside and outside the administration, and (3) various Ukrainians. These exchanges even go back to June, before the now-famous phone call took place.
Volker, to name one source, turned over quite a bit.
