Page 99 - The Loop News Today

Pl. chris? >> thank you. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time live." there w we have power players and people in power here to take it all on so lets get after it. today left a mark in this impeachment inquiry. why? well, gordon sondland, the presidents own hand-picked ambassador, implicated him directly in the shakedown of ukraine. and, by the way, that wasnt the end of it. >> at the express direction of the president of the united states, so we followed the presidents orders, i followed th...

Directly heard the words quid pro quo from the president. >> look, yesterday was a bombshell. at the beginning of the day when we heard everyone was in the loop, it wasnt a secret. we were following directions. talk to rudy. that was an oh, you know what moment for republicans. but as david said, he was not a perfect witness. and republicans were able to muddy the waters throughout the day. especially when it came to was there a direct link between the president and sondland? did the president s...

Ukrainian shakedown scheme. >> everyone was in the loop. it was no secret. >> and then there is the vice president, mike pence. sondland claims that he told pence early in september, before the v.p. was to meet ukraines president, that he was concerned aid to ukraine was tied to the investigations. well, tonight pence tells a wisconsin tv reporter that he has no recollection of any discussion. now, note that he used the word "discussion." sondland testified that when he expressed his concerns to...

Security adviser, john bolton, told her, he did not want to be involved in rudy giulianis drug deal over ukraine. >> lets talk gordon sondland, shall we? sources say his opening statement blind sided the white house and republican lawmakers. he unequivocally stated there was a quid pro quo to pressure ukraine to launch investigations that would help the presidents campaign. he unequivocally stated that his actions were at the direction of the president. he stated that everyone was in the loop. e...

Was in the loop. he was asked specifically if ukrainians knew as well and he said yes. he said they had a sense, according to sondland, what they did with that is entirely separate. when we talk about what the president can and cannot do, michael lora cooper talked about congressly appointed funds and how they can and cannot be spent or not. lets take a listen to that moment. >> thats a legally specified process. thats not the president in the oval office manifesting a general skepticism of fore...

Presidents direction using rudy giuliani as point man with the complicity, acquiescence of some of the top cabinet officials, our political team has taken the opportunity to be who with us here. kirstin power as scott jenning bes. appreciate you being here with us. gloria what stood out today? it was a long and incredibly important day. >> it was. i mean, to summarize sondland, i think what i would say was his statement was, everyone was in the loop, twice he said it twice. >> and he name named ...

Unwhitingly, that is what donald trump has done throughout his presidency. one other point id like to make here about the tapes that were mentioned, the nixon tapes which eventually led to the smoking gun after many, many months of begun with the smoking gun. - the actual transcript or summary of the july 25th conversation that the president himself ordered released is the smoking gun. and what we saw today is how many people were in the loop, as mr. sondland would put it. those closest to the y...

We did not want to work with mr. giuliani so we followed the presidents orders. we kept the leadership, the state department and the nsc informed of our activities. they knew what we were doing and why. was there a quid pro quo? the answer is yes. everyone was in the loop. >> so what now? lets bring in cnn legal analyst mike zelden and steve paul. that moment obviously with ambassador sondland saying, yes, there was a quid pro quo grabbing headlines as quickly as those words were uttered. republ...

Lets discuss. james clapper, the former director of national intelligence, is here. thank you, sir. we have a short time, and i want to get a lot in. i appreciate you joining us. listen, sondland implicated so many people close to the president in his testimony today. were looking at some of them now. he says that they were all in the loop, and it was on behalf of the president. go. what do you think? >> well, it was very damning and very compelling, and i thought his statement, which is in writ...

Cover-up, and the stunning dimensions of the underlying conspiracy are really apparent after sondlands testimony. when he said that everyone is in the loop, that really is apparent now. so we have a roadmap. we have a chronology. was he the perfect witness? no. hes flawed. he was not as great a witness as dean because he wasnt privy to as much as john dean was. but this takes us into new territory, and tomorrow we have fiona hill, who i suspect were going to learn an awful lot from about all kin...