Self-professed 'full-time Trump-speak interpreter' downplays president’s bluster

Former Ambassador Gordon Sondland, who served as a diplomat to the European Union on behalf of the United States, continued to promote his "mad man" defense of President Donald Trump in an interview with CNN Friday morning.

"So you have in the past kind of defended the sort of mad men defense of Trump that he's unpredictable," said host Audie Cornish.

She played a clip of the audio of Trump's interview with the New York Times in which he claimed, "I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people."

Cornish asked, "If there's no international law, no bureaucratic process, no committee. No oversight that he believes that can restrain him. What is the check on the president's power?"

Sondland confessed, "I'm a full-time Trump-speak interpreter."

He explained, "I think what he was trying to say was, I don't even need to look at international law because my own morality is well within the bounds of international law."

While it has caused unnecessary global panic, Sondland said it's something people should get used to.

"He's a 70-something-year-old man," Sondland continued speaking about the president, who turns 80 in 2026. "He's not going to change. He speaks in metaphors. He speaks with grandiosity when he says, I'm going to solve the Ukraine problem in 24 hours. No one believed he meant 24 hours."

Sondland said what Trump was trying to say is that he'll focus on Ukraine "like a laser," giving it his full attention. However, even that hasn't been the case, as Trump has been distracted by his new invasion of Venezuela, his faltering peace plan in Israel and building his White House ballroom.

As for Stephen Miller, Sondland chuckled and said that the top Trump aide "loves hyperbole."

"He is not invading Greenland with the military," Sondland continued.

"Like any real estate developer, what he loves to do is he loves to put an offer on the table that's ridiculous. Let me put it in money terms. If he wants to pay $10,000 for something that someone wants, $20,000 for, you know, what he's going to offer. He's not going to offer 9 or 8 or something. He's going to say, I'll give you ten bucks, and people are going to say ten bucks," said Sondland

Cornish said that other Trump observers see Trump metaphorically hit them in the face and threaten them.

Sondland said that because it's the "U.S.'s money" and the "U.S.'s boots on the ground in the past, largely." Sondland said the work is redundant, as the U.S. is already providing these funds in another capacity. "But they don't want to neglect any potential revenue that they can achieve."

"And so when it comes to Greenland, what they've been doing is they've been talking to Russia, they've been talking to China quietly, but definitely.

"And Trump is saying, wait a minute, Greenland is an asset of NATO. Essentially. Forget about the United States. It's an asset of NATO. It's critical for our defense. Quit playing these games," Sondland continued. "If you're going to do this, we're going to take Greenland. And he says that in quotes. 'We're going to take Greenland.' Think about it. Multiple presidents have talked about Greenland. Now everyone is focused."

Cornish noted that the U.S. has had a deal with Greenland since the 1950s, but Sondland said that the "deal" includes China and Russia and Trump doesn't want them included. In fact, the deal with Greenland includes NATO, of which neither Russia nor China is a member. Greenland allows for a U.S. base to exist on Greenland soil and create "defense areas" that NATO deems necessary., CNN's Jim Sciutto explained. Given that the U.S. is a member of NATO, it can move freely through such areas, while Russia and China cannot.

Cornish said there was a way the U.S. could have had these conversations without "freaking out" NATO partners.

Any anger he sees coming from Congress, Sondland attributes to "bruised egos" and not legitimate concern about the separation of powers. He argued that every modern president has been given huge leverage in operating military actions. The difference, however, is that all of those were related to Middle East terrorism and fell under the AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force), which Congress passed in 2001.

Other than the bruised egos, Sondland said others are "miffed that the president didn't pick up the phone two seconds before he toppled Maduro. So, even if he had done so, what are they going to do?"

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