Keep An Eye On This

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - MAY 02 : US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (R) chats with U.S Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland (L) at the 1st EU-U.S. Energy Council High-Level B2B Forum on LNG at the European Co... BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - MAY 02 : US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (R) chats with U.S Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland (L) at the 1st EU-U.S. Energy Council High-Level B2B Forum on LNG at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium on May 2, 2019. European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete (not seen) and Executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol (not seen) also attended the forum. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) MORE LESS

By Josh Marshall

October 27, 2019 6:22 p.m.

THE BACKCHANNEL

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This is a note from a former federal prosecutor. I think they are on to something about the federal bribery statute and specter of criminal prosecution hanging over key players in the Ukraine scandal.

The WSJ is reporting that Sondland admitted that there was a quid pro quo: announce investigations of Burisma and 2016 or no meeting with Trump. Unlike Taylor, however, Sondland apparently did not tie the investigations to releasing the military aid. I think there is an important nuance here which may explain why Sondland is only admitting that the quo was the meeting and not the military aid while conveniently forgetting the other part of the deal.

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