Former ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland shook up the nation’s capital on Wednesday, testifying that there was a “quid pro quo” in the Ukraine negotiations.
But that’s not all that Sondland testified to.
Despite the media hysteria surrounding Sondland’s admission, an even more important admission has received little attention.
The moment came when Sondland was being questioned by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.
Swalwell: Would you agree that, in addition to making that request for an investigation, leveraging a visit at the White House, that a foreign government leader desperately needs, is also wrong?
Sondland: Leveraging in what respect?
Swalwell: A meeting at the White House. If someone really needs a meeting at the White House to show their legitimacy to their people, that leveraging that meeting and asking for an investigation would be wrong.
Sondland: To be candid, Congressman, every meeting at the White House has conditions placed on it. I have never worked on a meeting at the White House that doesn’t have a host of conditions placed on it. (Italics added)
Exactly. That’s why most Americans are not persuaded by the impeachment hearings. The idea that a president should be prevented from placing conditions upon his own foreign policy is absurd and dangerous.
It’s time to end the witch hunt.