President Trump had a positive reaction to the public testimony of EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland, despite the official’s damning testimony earlier Wednesday.
During an Apple manufacturing facility tour in Austin, Trump told reporters that Sondland’s testimony was “fantastic” and that it proved that he “did absolutely nothing wrong.”
“I think they have to end it now. There was no quid pro quo,” Trump said, according to CNN. “Not only did we win today; it’s over.”
While reading from handwritten notes on Sondland’s testimony, Trump asked: “Why didn’t he put this statement into his opening remarks?”
“We have no due process, we can’t have anything, and yet, not only did we win today, it’s over, and some of the fair press of which there isn’t too much, said this thing is over,” Trump said, according to CNN.
Sondland testified Wednesday that there was a quid pro quo related to military aid to Ukraine and that key senior officials in the Trump administration knew of the scheme.
CNN reported that Trump then claimed that he doesn’t know Sondland “very well” and described him as “a guy that got put there.”
“He came over to me after I defeated other people, I defeated them all,” Trump said, according to CNN.
In a statement obtained by the Washington Post, the White House said Wednesday night that Sondland’s testimony “completely exonerates” Trump.
“Though much of today’s testimony by Ambassador Sondland was related to his presumptions and beliefs, rather than hard facts, he testified to the fact that President Trump never told him that a White House meeting or the aid to Ukraine was tied to receiving a public statement from President Zelensky,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
Watch Trump’s remarks below:
Trump reacts to Sondland's testimony pic.twitter.com/bRkFPRxnLr
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) November 20, 2019
