Live updates: Sondland says Trump urged him to work with Giuliani on Ukraine
Trump, meanwhile, is calling on House members to support a Republican-sponsored resolution to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) for his handling of the impeachment inquiry. House Democrats plan to hold a vote to derail the resolution Thursday afternoon.
Later Thursday, Trump plans a campaign rally in Texas, where he is expected to air grievances with the impeachment process.
● Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tells Senate Republicans to be ready for an impeachment trial of Trump, which he expects to begin around Thanksgiving.
● Former adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells impeachment investigators he was ‘disturbed’ by attempts to use foreigners to hurt Trump’s political opponents.
● Sondland, Trump envoy and key figure in impeachment probe, faces criticism over $1 million taxpayer-funded home renovation.
The whistleblower complaint | The rough transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky |The letter from White House counsel to House leaders
10 a.m.: Maloney becomes acting Oversight Committee chair due to seniority
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), the second-highest ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, will become the panel’s acting chair following the passing of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), according to a senior Democratic leadership aide.
The process to elect a permanent chair of the committee will be announced at a later time, the aide said. The succession process will be handled by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, with the results later ratified by full House Democratic Caucus.
Besides Maloney, other contenders could include Reps. Stephen F. Lynch (Mass.) and Gerald E. Connolly (Va.). None have formally announced an intention to run.
— Mike DeBonis
9:40 a.m.: Sondland tells impeachment investigators Trump urged him to work with Giuliani on Ukraine
In his opening statement, Sondland told impeachment investigators that Trump urged him to work with his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani on matters related to Ukraine, including a possible visit by its new president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Sondland said Trump was skeptical that Ukraine was serious about reforms and anti-corruption efforts, according to a written copy of his statement.
“He directed those of us present at the meeting to talk to Mr. Giuliani, his personal attorney, about his concerns,” Sondland said. “It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the president’s mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani.”
Sondland said he did not understand “until much later that Mr. Giuliani’s agenda might have also included an effort to prompt the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the president’s 2020 reelection campaign.”
Sondland said that he and others were “disappointed by the President’s direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani.”
“Our view was that the men and women of the State Department, not the President’s personal lawyer, should take responsibility for all aspects of U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine,” he said.
Sondland said he also “strongly believed” that a White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky should have been scheduled “without any preconditions.”
9:10 a.m.: Sondland arrives at the Capitol
Sondland has arrived at the Capitol for his scheduled 9:30 a.m. deposition before three House panels.
9 a.m.: Trump offers ‘warmest condolences’ to family of Cummings
Trump tweeted his condolences Thursday morning over the death of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is involved in the impeachment inquiry.
“My warmest condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings,” Trump tweeted. “I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader. His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace!”
During the summer, Trump repeatedly lashed out at Cummings and the city he represents, saying at various points that residents of Baltimore were living in a “rodent infested mess” and that Cummings was to blame because he had a “very iron hand” on it.
Twenty minutes after praising Cummings for his work, Trump returned to lashing out at the impeachment inquiry on Thursday, writing on Twitter: “The Greatest Witch Hunt in American History!”
8:30 a.m.: Republicans postpone news conference on impeachment inquiry following death of Cummings
A group of House Republicans postponed a news conference scheduled for Thursday morning at which they planned to demand greater “transparency and inclusion” in the impeachment inquiry.
A statement released by the office of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said the decision was made following the death of Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, one of the panels involved in the inquiry.
“We anticipate the conference may be rescheduled for the near future and will be working on those details, but out of respect for Representative Cummings it will not take place today,” the statement said.
Gaetz’s office said more than 30 House Republicans had planned to attend, including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.).
8 a.m.: Sondland scheduled for 9:30 a.m. deposition behind closed doors
House investigators expect to hear testimony Thursday from Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and a central figure in the impeachment inquiry. He is scheduled to appear behind closed doors at 9:30 a.m.
Sondland, a hotel developer and major Trump fundraiser who had no background in diplomacy before he was confirmed by the Senate in June 2018, was pivotal to the administration’s efforts to pressure the government of Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political rivals, according to text messages and testimony from current and former officials.
He plans to say that a text message he sent Sept. 9 to the senior U.S. diplomat in Kyiv denying any quid pro quo with Ukraine, which was desperate for U.S. military aid and diplomatic support, was relayed to him directly by Trump, according to a person familiar with his testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet public.
7:45 a.m.: Trump heading to Texas for another campaign rally
Trump plans to head to Dallas on Thursday for a “Keep America Great Rally.” In recent weeks, he has used such events to air grievances about the impeachment process and the Democrats who are leading it.
Trump is scheduled to depart the White House at 10:30 a.m. and has several other events scheduled in Texas before he plans to stage his reelection rally around 7 p.m. Central time.
The rally comes a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats walked out of a meeting with Trump at the White House after Trump disparaged Pelosi. It was the first time they had come face-to-face since Pelosi launched the impeachment inquiry.
In remarks outside the White House, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters that Trump had called Pelosi a “third-rate politician.” Pelosi later clarified at the Capitol that Trump had called her a “third-grade politician.”
7:30 a.m.: Trump urges support for resolution censuring Schiff
President Trump is urging House members to support a Republican resolution to censure Schiff for his handling of the impeachment inquiry. Democrats are expected to block the resolution Thursday afternoon.
“Hope all House Republicans, and honest House Democrats, will vote to CENSURE Rep. Adam Schiff tomorrow for his brazen and unlawful act of fabricating (making up) a totally phony conversation with the Ukraine President and U.S. President, me. Most have never seen such a thing!” Trump tweeted late Wednesday night.
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), takes issue with Schiff’s remarks at a Sept. 26 hearing. Schiff embellished the transcript of the July phone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
Schiff later said his remarks were intended as parody and that Trump and others who have criticized him should have recognized that.
The resolution contends that Schiff “manufactured a false retelling of the conversation.”
It also takes aim at Schiff for other actions, including some related to the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
“Members of the Intelligence Committee have lost faith in his objectivity and capabilities as Chairman, with every Republican member on the Committee having signed a letter calling for his immediate resignation as Chairman,” the resolution says.
House Democrats are expected to vote to “table” the resolution as early as Thursday. That would prevent a vote on the resolution itself.
7:20 a.m.: Trump shares tweets by McConnell critical of the impeachment process
Trump took to Twitter early Thursday to share tweets from McConnell that were critical of the House impeachment inquiry.
If Trump is impeached by the Democratic-led House, the Republican-led Senate would hold a trial on whether to remove him from office.
“Washington Democrats have been engaged in a three-year-long impeachment parade in search of a rationale,” McConnell wrote in one tweet. “Prominent House Democrats were promising impeachment at the very beginning of this presidency. Fairness and due process are not their objectives here.”
In another, McConnell said that the “Democrats’ impeachment obsession is blocking urgent work for American families,” including passage of a trade deal to replace NAFTA.
On Wednesday, McConnell told Senate Republicans he expects that the House will vote to impeach Trump and that the Senate trial will probably begin around Thanksgiving.
7:10 a.m.: Trump tried to insult ‘unhinged’ Pelosi with an image. She made it her Twitter cover photo.
The image was meant to be an insult — “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” Trump wrote as a caption. But instead, it ended up as Pelosi’s Twitter cover photo.
The photo is striking: Pelosi, in electric blue, the only woman visible at the table, standing across from a homogeneous row of men, pointing her finger at the president.
To Democrats, what the photo conveyed was clear: the speaker “literally standing up to the president” after the House overwhelmingly voted to condemn his decision to pull out of northern Syria. The remarkable moment marked the latest episode in the long-running theatrical feud between Pelosi and Trump, ending, like others, with the Democratic leader reclaiming the president’s insult as a badge of pride.
Read more here.
— Meagan Flynn
7 a.m.: Donald Trump Jr. slammed for attacking Hunter Biden over nepotism
Donald Trump Jr. listened Wednesday night as Fox News host Sean Hannity scrutinized Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, suggesting that the son of a former vice president only had opportunities in other countries because “they’re really buying favor with the father.”
“Of course they are,” Trump Jr. chimed in. “When you’re the father and your son’s entire career is dependent on that, they own you.”
Trump Jr.’s Wednesday remarks sparked collective head-scratching and ridicule, but it’s a critique that he and his brother Eric Trump have repeatedly voiced in recent days — much to the increasing annoyance of critics, including Comedy Central host Trevor Noah, who are vexed by the pair’s apparent lack of self-awareness.
“Now, let’s be clear, I’m not defending Hunter Biden,” Noah said on his show Wednesday. “All I’m saying is the last people who should be talking about the blurred lines of family names and political influence are the people currently running their home office from the White House.”
Read more here.
— Allyson Chiu
