Following Directions: Ambassador Gordon Sondland did some dodging, weaving, and covering, but confirmed to impeachment questioners that there was a so-called “quid pro quo” in President Trump’s effort to wrest a commitment from Ukraine to investigate Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

  Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who became involved in the Ukraine mess, said the demands were coming through Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. He said, “Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma.” He added, “Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States.” 

  He said that he and others “didn’t want to work with Giuliani but, we played the hand we were dealt.” He said, though, “I followed the directions of the President because the President directed us to do so.”

  Sondland did not say that he believed at the time that $400 million in military aid was being held back as part of the pressure campaign to get the investigations. He said he couldn’t get a straight answer about that, but, “In the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma (energy company), as Mr. Giuliani had demanded.”

  The ambassador said a long list of people in the State Department, national security, and the White House knew what was going on. “They knew what we were doing and why.”

  Sondland avoided direct damnation of President Trump. He claimed a hazy memory of his cellphone call to the President from a restaurant in Kiev. Another witness who overheard it said Trump wanted military aid withheld until he got the Ukraine investigations. You’d think that would be memorable, but Sondland said, “Other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. For the most part, I have no reason to doubt their accounts.”

  Eventually Sondland said he concluded that the US military aid was tied to the demanded investigations. He said he told an aide to Ukraine’s president that,  

“I believed that the resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine took some kind of action on the public statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”

  The Republicans have mounted a defense based on picking apart words and individual facts, while ignoring the larger picture put together by an array of witnesses. What the anonymous whistleblower reported about Ukraine diplomacy actually happened.

  Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff got applause after delivering a stirring summation at the end of the afternoon session. He said Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani was doing the President’s work. “I do not believe that the president would allow himself to be led by the nose by Rudy Giuliani, or Ambassador Sondland, or anybody else.”

  While defenders argue that most of the military aid was eventually released to Ukraine after the story went public, Schiff said, “Getting caught is no defense – not to a violation of the Constitution, or to a violation of his oath of office. And it certainly doesn’t give us reason to ignore our oath of office.”

Booksmart: Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has been indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and tax evasion over lucrative deals she made for her self-published Healthy Holly children’s books. Pugh is accused of pressuring companies and non-profits with city and state business to buy thousands of books. Court papers say she used the money to promote her political career, fund her mayoral campaign, and to buy and renovate a house. 

The Royals: In the wake of an embarrassing television interview about his friendship with the late American sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, Britain’s Prince Andrew announced that he is stepping away from public life for the foreseeable future. No more ribbon cuttings at new shopping centers.

  Basically, the queen told him to go home and shut up.

  Andrew had hoped that an interview with the BBC would put to rest the criticism of his friendship with Epstein and accusations that he had slept with underage girls provided by Epstein. One woman says she had sex with Andrew three times when she was 17. He denied it and said he has no memory of her, even though there’s a picture of him with his arm around her.

  Particularly offensive to the British public was Andrew’s answer to a question about associating with Epstein even after he was convicted of sex offenses. “Do I regret the fact that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? Yes,” he said.

  “Unbecoming?” the interviewer, asked, incredulous. “He was a sex offender.”

The Bulletin Board: An Arkansas woman has filed papers saying a paternity test proves that Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter fathered her child while Hunter was dating his late brother’s widow. — After two deadlocked elections, Israel’s Benny Gantz has failed to form a government that would dislodge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They’re headed for a third election.

Book Beat: Susan Choi won the National Book Award for fiction with her novel “Trust Exercise,” a love story set in the 1980s at a competitive performing arts school. The novel takes on the issue of sexual consent.

Tree Falls in the Woods: With the impeachment hearings going until nearly 8 last night, the Democratic debate got little attention, and good thing for Vice President Joe Biden.

  Asked a question about violence against women, Biden said we have to change the culture “And keep punching at it and punching at it and punching at it.” 

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