Gordon Sondland Is Aiming Right at Trump’s Achilles’ Heel

Under questioning from the Democratic lawyer Daniel Goldman, Sondland made clear that what Trump (via his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani) demanded from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in exchange for a meeting with Trump was not any particular outcome to an investigation. In fact, it wasn’t even a real investigation. It was just lip service.

“I never heard, Mr. Goldman, anyone say that the investigations had to start or had to be completed,” Sondland said. “The only thing I heard from Mr. Giuliani or otherwise was that they had to be announced in some form, and that form kept changing.”

“Announced publicly?” Goldman asked.

“Announced publicly,” Sondland confirmed.

This subtle but important distinction shows that Trump’s interest was never fighting corruption in Ukraine. All Trump cared about was a public announcement of an investigation. That would be sufficient for him to attack Joe Biden in a presidential race, by pointing out that Ukraine was investigating wrongdoing. (Despite Giuliani’s best efforts, there’s still no evidence that Joe or Hunter Biden broke any Ukrainian or American laws.)

Sondland has tried to argue in his testimony that he did not initially understand that Trump’s obsession with Burisma was connected to the Bidens. If so, that’s no compliment to Sondland’s reasoning. To believe that Trump was sincerely interested in Burisma requires believing that he was interested in a specific company, in a particular country, when in reality Trump seldom shows any interest in details. Moreover, as David Holmes, a diplomat in Ukraine, testified that Sondland said, Trump “doesn’t give a shit about Ukraine.”

It was always about domestic politics—and how Trump could press Ukraine into assisting his reelection effort.

David A. Graham is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers U.S. politics and global news.