Nov. 22, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to a Nov. 18 letter from Sen. Ron Johnson detailing a conversation he had with President Donald Trump on Aug. 31 when the President said there was no quid pro quo on military assistance, long before the anonymous CIA so-called whistleblower complaint ever became public:
“According to Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, he directly asked President Trump on Aug. 31 if there was a quid pro quo for Ukrainian military assistance to be released. The President told Johnson, ‘No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?’ This was the day before Vice President Pence met with Ukrainian President Zelensky, after which out-of-the-loop U.S. Ambassador Sondland ‘presumed’ and suggested a quid pro quo to a Ukrainian presidential aide that became ground zero for the whole quid pro quo confusion.
“The simple fact that President Trump told Chairman Johnson on Aug. 31 long before the so-called whistleblower complaint was ever made public that there was no quid pro quo and alluded to the probable release of the aid, stating ‘We’re reviewing it now, and you’ll probably like my final decision,’ indicating he would support it, which he did on Sept. 11, effectively ends every conspiracy theory laden timeline that Adam Schiff has concocted. Every person who testified to Schiff’s committee was asked about a quid pro quo, and every witness who thought there was one, and Senator Johnson too received their second-hand information from Sondland, who was demonstrably wrong. The idea that the President craftily shifted his position when the political heat rose, is blown away by the fact that he told Johnson our policy position was no quid pro quo, demonstrating that the hold on the aid was truly an evaluation of whether Ukraine’s corruption made the aid ill-advised and what Europe could to provide more on its end. The impeachment egg that Schiff and Pelosi find on their face can be directly traced to patient zero Ambassador Gordon Sondland, fueled by their partisan desire to impeach Trump at all costs making them willing to believe anything without verifying the facts.
“The impeachment inquiry is damaging our nation, and this clear exoneration of President Trump should be used by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to stop this partisan sham and get back to work.”
Attachments:
“Sondland: ‘No one told me directly that the aid [to Ukraine] was tied to anything. I was presuming it was.’” By Robert Romano, Nov. 22, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/11/sondland-no-one-told-me-directly-that-the-aid-to-ukraine-was-tied-to-anything-i-was-presuming-it-was/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview.
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