Sondland Opts to Be Part of Cover Up

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 8, 2019 9:49 a.m.

THE BACKCHANNEL

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Gordon Sondland’s attorney, Robert “Gold Bars” Luskin, says his client is “profoundly disappointed” that he is not being allowed to testify. This is bull. It is totally within his power to testify. He can resign his position at the State Department and opt to follow the law. (It’s not even totally clear to me he needs to resign. But that is certainly sufficient.) It appears that he is not only refusing to testify but refusing to turn over evidence in the form of text messages. He is simply choosing to make himself part of the cover up, presumably out of political loyalty to the President.

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