Trump Justifies Blocking Sondland’s Testimony: Impeachment Inquiry Is ‘Kangaroo Court’

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Army General Mark Milley looks on after a briefing from senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room at the White Hous... WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Army General Mark Milley looks on after a briefing from senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room at the White House on October 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke about the pull-out of U.S troops in northeastern Syria and the impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the House’s impeachment inquiry into his actions as president a “kangaroo court.” That, Trump said, justified the State Department’s move to block the ambassador to the European Union from testifying to Congress.

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland’s attorney said earlier Tuesday that the State Department had ordered Sondland not to testify to the committees leading the impeachment inquiry.

Trump, in his tweets, implied the order had come from him.

Sondland was one of a handful of diplomats who participated in a text message exchange subsequently handed over to Congress in which they discussed quid pro quos involving the Trump administration and the new Ukrainian president.

Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, in which Trump pressured Zelensky to pursue dirt on Trump’s political opponents, spurred the House’s impeachment inquiry.

Sonland told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in August, the senator later recalled, that Trump wanted Ukraine to take particular actions before he would release military aid.

“Get to the bottom of what happened in 2016—if President Trump has that confidence, then he’ll release the military spending,” Johnson recalled Sondland telling him.

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Notable Replies

  1. Weird for such a fan of kangaroo (read: rigged) courts to dis them like that.

  2. Democrats should be asking, over and over and over, this question (even though the answer is obvious): WHY IS DONALD TRUMP AFRAID OF THE TRUTH?

  3. …but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public…

    #RepublicanProjection
    #Benghazi
    #FastAndFurious
    #IRSScandal
    #EveryRepublicanInvestigationEver

  4. @thunderclapnewman, I think your cartoon of the plane and the twin towers needs to be here, just in case anyone missed it the first time.
    Constitutional crisis, anyone?

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