The tightly-controlled format of MSNBC’s liberal news programming fell to pieces after a former never-Trump J6 witness declared he has come to renounce Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and embrace his former boss.
MSNBC host Ari Melber nearly left his jaw on the ground after hosting a panel featuring former U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, a Trump appointee who delivered some of the sharpest criticism of the former president during his first impeachment in 2019. Despite his reservations, Sondland told Melber and his fellow panelists, the Biden-Harris administration is the bigger “threat to democracy.”
“I don’t stand by” former criticism of Trump, Sondland said on Wednesday. “I’ve now lived four years under the Biden-Harris policies, and I have to say that those policies are not only becoming an existential to our country’s way of life but to our allies as well.” He attempted to finish his point, but Melber had heard enough. “I’ll let you finish, but this is so striking. You said it was a ‘no for me’ after J6, and here we are right now, and you’re saying it’s a yes for you.”
“I did” oppose Trump, Sondland admitted, but now “it is a yes for me,” he smiled back at Melber. The host’s head nearly exploded as he listened to Sondland explain how his feelings on Trump have shifted since then. “That is how badly the Biden-Harris team have prosecuted their job.”
U.S. House lawmakers in 2019 convened impeachment proceedings after allegations by Sondland and other diplomats that President Trump pressured Ukrainian officials to investigate Hunter Biden’s work at Burisma in exchange for upwards of $1 billion in foreign aid. After initially telling Congress there was “no quid pro quo” between Trump and Ukraine, he later recalled a conversation in which the “resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur unless Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”
In 2022, Gordland released a book about his work in the Trump administration where he looked back on the January 6th, 2021 riots at the Capitol. “[H]e really f—–d that up,” he told the Wall Street Journal in reference to Trump. “I won’t support him.” Melber asked Sondland about J6 being an “attack on American democracy” that is “bigger than any policy.” Not so, the former ambassador replied. “I am seeing so many attacks on democracy that eclipse January 6th. If you want to ask me what those are – ” he continued before Melber turned to another guest in frustration.
Sonland’s about-face comes the same week that President Trump’s campaign released an endorsement letter signed by 200 retired military officers praising his handling of foreign affairs while in office. The consortium of retired admirals and generals calls this cycle the “most important election since our Nation was founded,” seeking to blunt the impact of a slate of military endorsements released last week by the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. Dubbing themselves Flag Officers 4 America, the officers wrote, “The undersigned retired Generals and Admirals are endorsing Donald J. Trump for president in 2024 because he is a proven leader who will secure our border, repulse our adversaries, revitalize our economy and keep America safe and strong.”
