Sondland testimony makes a 'really clear case for impeachment': Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks

Former Watergate prosecutors Jill Wine-Banks and Cynthia Alksne think that EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland is helping make the case for impeaching President Donald Trump.

In an MSNBC panel discussion with host Ali Velshi, Wine-Banks explained that Sondland either had his memories refreshed or he was just being "very careful not to be caught in a perjury trial."

"There’s no question that all the pieces are fitting together," the former Watergate prosecutor explained. "It’s like a puzzle that you’re putting together where everybody has corroborating exactly what we learned from the actual memorandum of the conversation. Something bad happened. There was definitely extortion, and there are a number of crimes we could look at from an impeachment standpoint, all three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon apply here."

She named that "contempt of Congress" is one of the Trump crimes, due to the stonewalling of subpoenas. Another is obviously obstruction of justice with the president telling witnesses they can't testify or cooperate. There's the "shadow foreign policy" with Giuliani working on behalf of the State Department without being employed by State or even going through a background check. Ultimately, there's the issue of Trump's demand "will you do me a favor, though," where he bribed Ukraine.

"It’s a really clear case for impeachment and I would say if the president could be indicted which I still believe a president can be, you would have a violation where extortion doesn’t have to be by threat of physical violence," she continued. "It can be under color of law. There are plenty of crimes. Of course, the election law is clearly being violated when you ask for something from a foreign power. You cannot accept anything for your campaign from a foreign government and that is exactly —"

"Or a foreign national," Velshi cut in.

"That’s exactly what Donald Trump did," she agreed.

Watch the clip below: