Jeanine Pirro Says Impeachment Witness Gordon Sondland Is A ‘Deep State Bureaucrat’
On Saturday, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro attacked impeachment witness and United States Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Mediaite reports.
Defending President Donald Trump against House Democrats’ allegations, Pirro accused Sondland of making false statements during his testimony before the United States Congress.
“Everything he said was contradicted by the facts,” she said, arguing that the president did not have a quid pro quo agreement with the Ukrainian government.
She then ripped into Sondland, suggesting that he is opposed to the commander-in-chief.
“His testimony is not only canceled by the facts, but by his demeanor, his arrogance and inappropriate smirking making it clear he, like many deep state bureaucrats, is not a fan of the president.”
While Pirro may claim that Sondland is “not a fan of the president,” his past actions suggest otherwise. Formerly a hotelier in the Pacific Northwest, Sondland donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee.
As NPR reported, Sondland made the donations through four different companies. He was also a bundler for Trump in 2016 and initially suggested to Congress that Trump’s actions toward Ukraine were not problematic because the administration was only trying to investigate corruption in the eastern European country.
The ambassador amended his initial testimony, however, telling Congress that Trump wanted Ukraine to launch investigations into his political opponents. He also said that the president conditioned military aid on the probes, becoming one of the key witnesses in the impeachment probe.
Apart from attacking Sondland, Pirro attacked Democrats in the House of Representatives.
According to the host, the Democratic Party “started the inquiry without a vote,” refusing to allow Republicans to make their own case.
“It was the Democrats who hid their witnesses in the bowels of the capitol. The Democrats who refused to allow the minority to present a case,” she said.
"After two weeks and seventeen witnesses where the goal was to convince Republicans and the nation of the evidence of an impeachable offense – Adam Schiff and his gang of political malcontents failed miserably. "
Check out my opening statement: pic.twitter.com/iJ6ZTwO47B
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) November 24, 2019
Trump’s allies in conservative media have been launching similar attacks at other witnesses in the impeachment probe. Notably, Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson attacked former United States Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, discrediting and mocking the career diplomat for saying she felt “intimidated” by the commander-in-chief.
According to House Democrats, Trump committed impeachable offenses by freezing military aid in order to force Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, currently the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race.
Lead by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the impeachment inquiry is expected to wrap up by Christmas when the vote to impeach the president will reportedly be held.
