Running away and trying to hide...

'I don't know him very well': Trump fights back against Sondland's testimony

But the president pointed to one piece of his EU ambassador's remarks that made him look good.

By QUINT FORGEY

Clutching handwritten notes scrawled with a Sharpie, President Donald Trump on Wednesday fought back against bombshell impeachment testimony from Gordon Sondland that tied the president even closer to a quid pro quo involving Ukraine and investigations into Trump's political rivals.

"I don’t know him very well. I have not spoken to him much," Trump said on the South Lawn of the White House, as he sought to downplay his relationship with Sondland, despite effusively praising him in the past. "This is not a man I know well. He seems like a nice guy, though."

Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union and a Trump megadonor, told the House Intelligence Committee earlier in the day that he and other senior aides to the president made it clear to Ukraine officials that they needed to deliver politically motivated investigations Trump sought.

“Was there a ‘quid pro quo?” Sondland said. “The answer is yes.”

Sondland also tied the mission directly to Trump, saying he and other senior officials pressured Ukraine on the investigations “because the president directed us to do so.”

But the envoy also told lawmakers that in his conversations with the president — including a September phone call — Trump never explicitly conditioned a White House meeting with Ukraine's president or security assistance to the Eastern European nation on the probes.

Trump seized upon that particular bit of testimony Wednesday.

"I just noticed one thing, and I would say, that means it's all over," he told reporters, proceeding to read off his pages of notes summarizing Sondland's remarks.

"So here's my answer: 'I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell Zelensky to do the right thing," Trump said, re-enacting his conversation with Sondland.

Throughout the House impeachment inquiry, the president has sought to denigrate or at least distance himself from key witnesses in the Democrat-led investigation, including his own administration officials.

Trump early last month hailed Sondland, who contributed $1 million to the president's inaugural committee, as "a really good man and great American." Two weeks ago, however, Trump claimed to "hardly know the gentleman."

Asked during his testimony about the president's disparate statements regarding their relationship, Sondland quipped: "Easy come, easy go."

Trump on Wednesday also sought to portray the impeachment investigation as sputtering out, tweeting that the "Impeachment Witch Hunt is now OVER!"

Trump continued to reiterate that belief after Sondland's daylong testimony wrapped up, telling reporters on a trip to Texas that Democrats "have to end it now." He then launched into a familiar tirade against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and the press.

And he ridiculed Democrats for placing so much stock in Sondland's testimony, telling reporters in Texas later that "this was going to be their star witness."

He appeared to deflect responsibility for appointing Sondland as EU ambassador, noting that Sondland supported other candidates first in the 2016 GOP primary. "He's the guy who got put there, he wasn't even on my side. He came over to me, I didn't even know that. He came over to me after I defeated other people," Trump said.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Wednesday echoed her boss's messaging, also referencing the September call between Trump and Sondland.

"Ambassador Sondland’s testimony made clear that in one of the few brief phone calls he had with President Trump, the President clearly stated that he ‘wanted nothing’ from Ukraine and repeated ‘no quid pro quo over and over again,'" Grisham said in a statement. "In fact, no quid pro quo ever occurred. The U.S. aid to Ukraine flowed, no investigation was launched, and President Trump has met and spoken with President Zelensky. Democrats keep chasing ghosts.”

Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, also weighed in on Sondland's testimony after the ambassador told lawmakers that Trump ordered him to coordinate with the former New York mayor on Ukraine matters.

Sondland said that he, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Kurt Volker, a former U.S. envoy for Ukraine negotiations, "did not want to work with Mr. Giuliani" and simply "played the hand we were dealt."

But Giuliani wrote on Twitter that he "came into this at Volker’s request," and accused Sondland of "speculating based on VERY little contact. I never met him and had very few calls with him, mostly with Volker."

In that same tweet, which Giuliani quickly deleted, he added that "Volker testified I answered their questions and described them as my opinions, NOT demands. I.E., no quid pro quo!"