U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland must have a very good driver after leaving Capitol Hill at 4:00PM and somehow still making his 5:50PM flight to Brussels on United.
After providing testimony implicating President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and perhaps even Vice President Mike Pence in the Ukraine “quid pro quo” scandal, Sondland bolted Washington before the President could even get a tweet out.
Congressman Adam Schiff adjourned the meeting at 3:50PM after (another) extended monologlue. Sondland and his entourage quickly departed and hopped in car.
I really hope CNN will have a helicopter following Sondland’s journey to Dulles with a countdown clock in the corner. https://t.co/6rvWYX7Ary
— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) November 20, 2019
It was not clear if a police escort cleared traffic for the Ambassador, allowing him to make what is normally a dire commute in rush hour traffic in record time. In any case, he made it.
After checking in for his flight (did someone not think to do that earlier?), Sondland took advantage of his TSA PreCheck status to quickly clear security.
Gordon Sondland made his flight. He said he’s “going back to work” and would like to get on his flight with “peace and quiet.” (He has TSA pre-check.) pic.twitter.com/jfZJvAG6ug
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 20, 2019
Onboard, The Hill and CNN made a big deal about Sonland using the “wrong” overhead bin, but I don’t see an issue. There’s no rule that says you must use the overhead bin above your seat.
Gordon Sondland put his luggage in the wrong overhead bin, then said “my whole day has been like this” https://t.co/kjw0DAiC9n pic.twitter.com/gPi36EO6ir
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 21, 2019
The poor man could not even escape the press on his flight!
Interestingly, apparently his flight wasn’t too much of a draw for the press or for non-revs…it went out with four open seats in business class…
Good work. This will stir things up and get you some hits. You should have asked him to review the food for you.
I bet he sleeps through it.
IAD to BRU is one of the easiest UA flights for upgrades or award tix in J. My guess is Sondland got upgraded, as even Ambassadors don’t usually get business class on such short flights, per USG travel rules. M
Can’t he use his own money to buy biz class?
It’s tight but doable from Capital Hill to Dulles in that time frame. The saving grace of Dulles is the Airport Traffic Only Dulles access road. Once you get to it it’s home free for the last 14 miles.
“The poor man could not even escape the press on his flight!”
Um, that’s what happens when you live a public life…
Yeah, but where is the line drawn?
Maybe the same place as posting pics of people on travel blogs without their consent, who knows…
Like wild children?
Like anyone who doesn’t give their consent, regardless of age.
Matthew, to improve your credibility, you may want to change the paragraph that talked about ‘implicating’ the president to just something like ‘he testified’ and leave it at that.
Gotta stop watching CNN.
I don’t have a TV, so I don’t watch CNN or Fox News. Whether Sonland was lying or not, he certainly implicated the President and other top officials in the Trump Administration.
Dude, he implicated the president. That isn’t politically loaded, that’s just a fact. Look up the meaning of implicated and tell me what you see.
Jesus. Feel free to live your own reality but please don’t try to ‘correct’ it for others.
He “implicated” the POTUS by testifying that neither POTUS, nor anyone else, told him that aid was tied to investigations? You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.
You Dems will latch on to anything to fulfill your objective from day one. Two years of investigations came up with nothing, except the revelation that Dems were doing exactly what they now accuse POTUS of. Deflect much?
The “2 + 2 =4” argument makes a lot of sense, WR2.
That said, I view this whole charade a waste of time, know the Senate won’t convict, and think this impeachment inquiry might even help the POTUS win re-election.
Personally, I also don’t see this as a “high crime or misdemeanor” even if Trump directly admits Ukrainian aide was tied to the Hunter Biden inquisition.
Time will tell…and the voters will decide.
You believe it’s a “charade” to bring these issues into the light ? Even conceding that it’s unlikely the impeachment threshold will be met, surely it’s in everyone’s interest to know the extent of the grubby, duplicitous, self#serving behaviour. It’s beyond outrageous.
You, Matthew, have a better chance of being elected President in 2020.
I think these are serious issues unbecoming of a U.S. president. I view Trump as puerile and jejune in his antics, and that is being charitable. But I view Schiff, my own Congressman, as self-serving and narcissistic too. That’s not making an equivalency argument, just an observation.
I wish I had a better chance of being elected than Trump in 2020…I’d run!
I understand the political realities we’re facing. But I think politics should follow facts, not the other way around. A president should be impeached if commits high crimes and misdemeanors, as the constitution says. It doesn’t say “if the politics allow AND the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors…”
And that’s what we’re seeing with these hearings. We’re getting the facts. Which is that our president held up vital military aid to an ally of ours in an attempt to get politically damaging material on a political opponent. And that there were a number of very senior (Trump appointed and vetted) government professionals who were very concerned by what was going on. And for good reason: these actions are basically saying Trump has the green light to shake down foreign governments for his own personal benefit. Maybe you don’t think that’s a big deal, hopefully others disagree.
And one final thing: this idiotic line about ‘subverting the will of the people’. Who elected the people currently deciding whether the guy is impeached? Who will endure the potential backlash if the impeachment is viewed as being improper? That’s following the will of the people, folks.
Matthew,
In a few weeks – the ads will be rolling non-stop over local L.A. airwaves – tv and radio as the campaign to fill the seat just to the north of you in CA-25 ramps up.
Since you don’t have a tv – you will miss all the commercials clogged with Christy Smith and Steve Knight battling it out 24/7 – just as what happened in 2016 when now resigned Katie Hill won the republican leaning district from Steve Knight.
Yes – the Dulles access road is a real timesaver -just getting to it is the nightmare on I-66…worse than the 405 leaving the westside up to the SFV and SCV.
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
Jesus, the blinders here are incredible. Sondland indicated, quite clearly, that everybody up and down the chain knew that release of the money was contingent on a television announcement attacking a potential political opponent of the president. Are you seriously saying you need to have Trump directly saying “yes, I want to hold up military aid for the sole purpose of getting a public announcement from a foreign government attacking a political opponent of mine”? Is this how it works? Does a mob boss get off if he passes everything via his consigliere? Nobody heard John Gotti directly saying “whack that guy”, so using your logic we can’t convict him.
Nobody said you had to believe Sondland. But he did implicate the president. And Bolton. And a bunch of people.
Well, obviously, if your only new source is the president’s tweeting, the blinders will be on…
What kills me is that we can’t even discuss basic facts. Implicating the president does not mean the president is necessarily guilty. It just means Sondland provided a link between the president and this Ukraine situation (however you define it).
But no. We all live in these highly self-curated realities where you can’t even state a bald fact if it contradicts your view.
The Fox News lemmings of the US (including ~45 members of the Senate) will never acknowledge any of this obvious truth at all
I don’t think a multi-millionaire is going to have an issue up-faring a coach ticket to business class.
A source shared with me United’s new ad campaign for Polaris:
“Called to testify before Congress? Don’t lie under oath – lie flat in our Polaris business class!”
“With Polaris, you’ll arrive as refreshed as Gordon Sondland’s memory on his third testimony.”
“Are you a Republican regretting making your bed in Trump’s swamp and now having to lie in it? Don’t worry, we’ve got the best business-class bedding in the air!”
LOL
Love it!
I’ve left downtown DC at 4PM many and made it to Dulles for a 6pm flight many times. That’s not a story.
I’ve been very frustrated on many occasions sitting in stalled traffic until I reached the Dulles access road.
This was just another futile attempt to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, with Sondland attempting to elbow his way into a lifeboat.
The suggestion that he didn’t know / understand that ‘Burisma’ meant ‘Biden’ is just so effing ludicrous, and yet they let it pass. No doubt bigger fish to fry.
These people are crooks and shysters, far, far worse than Nixon ( Watergate did not threaten national security). These shysters would/will do Anything, including damaging American interests, to hold onto power. Evil.
Just 12 months ( max) to run and EVERYONE can celebrate.
You mean Trump didnt offer up his own airplane or even Air Force One to him? Did he assume Trump would? Imagine that!