'I followed the directions of the president'

Holy smokes, OnPolitics readers! What a day in Washington ... and it's still going!

The hearings in the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump featured a stunning round of testimony from Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland for majority of the day, pushing the session for Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs, and David Hale, the undersecretary of State for political affairs, back to a 5:30 p.m. EDT start time.

Sondland gave us enough bombastic material to analyze. So, let's get started. 

Sondland said he and others 'followed the president's orders'

A remarkable day of testimony began before the testimony actually began when Sondland's opening statement was released to the public.  

Sondland told lawmakers he did not wish to work with Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who pushed for investigations into alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election and Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company whose board included former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter. Sondland said he and other officials "followed the president's orders" to work with the former New York City mayor. 

"Mr. Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky" in exchange for "a public statement announcing investigations," Sondland said. He added Giuliani "was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president." 

Here are some additional key moments and takeaways from Sondland's session in the hot seat: 

• "Rudy was the guy — Giuliani was the pivotal player driving the Ukraine policy because that's what Trump wanted. It wasn't an order. It was 'if you want to work on this, this is the guy you've got to talk to,'" Sondland testified.
• "Everyone was in the loop" — Sondland said many top officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, understood the president's desire for a quid pro quo. Before Pence met with Zelensky in Warsaw, Poland, on Sept. 1, Sondland said, he mentioned to the vice president his concerns "that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations." Marc Short, the vice president's chief of staff, later denied the conversation Sondland said he had with Pence.
• Trump said, "I want no quid pro quo" — Sondland testified that he asked Trump for clarification on what he wanted from Ukraine on Sept. 9, the same day three House committees announced they were opening an investigation into an allegation Trump had pressured Ukraine for political gain. "He said, 'I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I just want Zelensky to do the right thing, to do what he ran on,'" Sondland testified. Sondland also said Trump never directly told him that aid was conditioned on Ukraine announcing that the investigations had been opened. 
• "Unfortunately, President Trump was skeptical." — After Zelensky was inaugurated on May 20, Trump expressed concerns that the Ukrainian government was not serious about reform. "He even mentioned that Ukraine tried to take him down in the last election," Sondland said about Trump.

If you weren't able to tune in Wednesday, but you want to catch up, we can help.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff prepared and read an opening statement at the beginning of Sondland's hearing.

These are the 17 witnesses who have spoken in the Trump impeachment inquiry. If you want to dig deeper, you can also check out the transcripts from their closed-door testimonies.

Our live blog tracked all the action as it happened.

Head here if you want to learn more about how to stay up to date with our coverage. 

White House official: Trump 'should not testify' in impeachment hearing

Trump "should not" provide testimony to the House impeachment inquiry because Democrats are conducting unfair hearings, Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general and new White House aide, said in an interview on CBS on Wednesday. "No one would advise him to testify because this is a sham court," Bondi said.

On Monday, Trump tweeted that he would "strongly consider" testifying "even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax."

It's not over yet: Thursday's witnesses

Two more witnesses will appear in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday:

• Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia, said former National Security Adviser John Bolton was angry over efforts to arrange a White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky in exchange for political investigations.
• David Holmes, the counselor for political affairs at the US Embassy in Ukraine, will appear alongside Hill. Holmes testified behind closed doors last week that he overheard a phone conversation where Sondland had told Trump that Ukraine was going to move forward with the investigation Trump had asked Zelensky for. 

Wrapping it up ...

Here are some more notable political news stories you may have missed:

• The stage at the fifth Democratic presidential debate will feel a little less crowded  Wednesday night as just ten candidates qualified for the two-hour event in Atlanta. Our live blog has all the action captured. 
• Speaking of Democratic presidential candidates, Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam no longer is one as he has ended his long-shot bid.
• Trump sought to escape the deluge of negative headlines by heading to Texas. Trump joined Apple CEO Tim Cook in Austin on a tour of the plant where Apple produces its Mac Pro desktop computer. Trump's trip coincided with Apple's announcement that it is beginning construction on a new $1 billion campus in Austin after it reportedly been considering moving production to Asia.
• Multiple former officials from President Barack Obama's administration — including former national security adviser Susan Rice — strongly disputed White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham's claim that they left nasty notes behind for Trump's incoming team after the January 2017 inauguration. 

It's hard to believe it's only Wednesday. There's a lot more to come, OP readers. Stay tuned!