November 19th 2019

By Aldous J Pennyfarthing (of the Daily Kos community)

Daily Kos

It’s getting harder and harder for GOPsters to defend the ocher abomination, and the latest round of testimony is a case in point.

According to a source who spoke to CNN, Republican legislators were “shaken” by the recent testimony of State Department official David Holmes, who described overhearing a potentially incriminating conversation between Donald Trump and U.S. ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland:

David Holmes -- who will testify publicly as part of the House impeachment inquiry -- said in closed-door testimony last week that US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland had told Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "loves your ass" and that Ukraine was going to move forward with the investigation Trump had asked Zelensky for a day earlier. Holmes said he was able to overhear the conversation due to the volume of Trump's voice while he sat with Sondland at a restaurant in Kiev.

According to the GOP congressional source, that testimony led several GOP lawmakers to express frustration that Sondland would place a call to the President in a public restaurant, and are concerned that Holmes' testimony was the most convincing argument for Trump's direct involvement in the campaign to pressure Ukraine.

Holmes is scheduled to testify publicly before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

Holmes' statement confirmed the testimony from Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, who revealed the July 26 phone call with lawmakers at his own public testimony last Wednesday, saying Holmes had informed Taylor about it after Taylor first appeared on Capitol Hill behind closed doors last month. Holmes' testimony places Trump closer to the push for Ukraine to open an investigation into his political rival and raises additional questions about the testimony of Sondland, who is scheduled to testify publicly Wednesday.

The CNN story notes that Republicans are worried about how Sondland will handle himself during his testimony on Wednesday, and one of the network’s sources said Sondland was “unprepared and ill fitted” for his ambassadorship. 

Republicans are also reportedly fretting about the fallout from the hearings and “are especially concerned about the reaction from independent voters and suburban women voters who are watching Trump attack witnesses both on Twitter and on television.”

Gee, you mean viciously attacking witnesses who tell the truth about you turns voters off?

Crazy, man.

Maybe we’re finally starting to escape from this alternate-universe hell we’ve been trapped in for the past three years.

Posted with permission