MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: "Dems invite John Bolton to testify."

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O`DONNELL: Joining us now, a member of the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees, who has been in the room for these depositions, Democratic Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us again on this question. And let`s just take a look at this evidence here in what could be the basis of a perjury charge against Sondland. Based on what Colonel Vindman said yesterday, here`s Colonel Vindman`s testimony in his opening statement, he said: Ambassador Sondland started to speak about Ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the president at which time Ambassador Bolton cut the meeting short. Following this meeting there was a scheduled debriefing during which Ambassador Sondland emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens and Burisma. I stated to Ambassador Sondland that this -- that his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security and that such investigations were not something the NSC was going to get involved in or push. Dr. Hill then entered the room and asserted to Ambassador Sondland that his statements were inappropriate. And Gordon Sondland apparently says that none of that happened. Here what we have from Gordon Sondland, in his opening statement. Under oath, he said we have regular communications with the NSC about Ukraine both before and after the July meeting and neither Ambassador Bolton, Dr. Hill, nor anyone else on the NSC staff ever expressed any concerns to me about our efforts our most importantly any concerns that we were acting improperly. Congressman Welch, someone`s not telling the truth there.

WELCH: Well, that`s right. And I think Sondland has a lot of explaining to do. But, you know, what`s really pointing out is that there`s two categories of witnesses here. There`s the political class and I put Sondland in that category and it`s pretty sordid. It`s about being self-serving. It`s about doing whatever the president`s bidding is. It`s about making it up as you go along. And it`s about concealing what you`re doing. And then there are the civil servant witnesses like the people today, like Ambassador Taylor. And it`s about duty. Those folks are inspiring. They are about teamwork, about long-term service of our country -- and that`s what`s the inspiring part. But we`ve got the sordid. And I put Sondland in that category, quite frankly. He bought an ambassadorship. He wanted to please the president. He had no long-term commitment to what the Ukraine policy has traditionally been and even one, by the way, that John Bolton supported to root out corruption in Ukraine and defend it from foreign aggression. So, Sondland has got a lot of explaining to do, but he was clearly doing the bidding of the president.

O`DONNELL: Now, we all know it was public information that Sondland was offered the standard opportunity in these situations to review the transcript of his deposition, to see if there was anything in there that he might want to try to correct. But there are some limitations on what you`re allowed to correct in those review sessions, aren`t there?

WELCH: Well, there are. I mean, you can correct -- if it`s not stated correctly you can correct it. Or if you misspoke you can say that. But I think changing your answer, day is night, that doesn`t work so well. But we`ll see. I mean, the bottom line here is that it`s very clear that Sondland was one of the three amigos, that he knew what the real Ukraine policy was from the president, and that was essentially to get them to agree on investigation of the Bidens. So, he knew that even as he was working in the regular ranks of the ambassadorial class on the so-called long-term policy which people like Ambassador Taylor and even John Bolton thought they were working on, corruption and thwarting Russian aggression.

O`DONNELL: And in the normal course of a situation like this, if you were going to refer that testimony for a perjury prosecution, you`d be sending it over to what is now William Barr`s Justice Department. But the committee can wait until there is a new Justice Department after the next presidential election and send it over then. That might be something that Gordon Sondland isn`t aware of.

WELCH: Well, it`s possible. And look, everybody is accountable. And everyone owes themselves to be brought to justice for whatever they may have done. But right now, the focus obviously is on what was the president`s policy. And the big question is, can a president of the United States solicit aid for his campaign from a foreign power and in order to get that, with hold congressionally approved military aid? That`s really what the question is. So, Sondland for whatever he did, and I think he was doing the bidding of the president, was a sideshow. What really is at the heart of this is what was in that presidential call to President Zelensky of Ukraine.

O`DONNELL: Congressman Peter Welch, thank you very much for joining us again. We really appreciate it.

WELCH: Thank you.

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