The president relied on a note, written with a black marker in all caps, in the wake of Gordon Sondland’s bombshell testimony

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Donald Trump is no stranger to chants: the common refrain of “Lock her up” at his rallies is one example. The counter chant of “Lock him up,” directed at the president himself at a recent Washington DC baseball game is another.

Trump impeachment inquiry: five takeaways from Sondland's testimony Read more

On Wednesday, however, the president appeared to have penned one of his own: in the form of an apparent aide-memoire for his own Ukraine defense in the wake of bombshell testimony during his impeachment hearing, which has implicated him in seeking to force Ukraine to investigate his political rivals in return for US aid.

Trump was holding a sheet of paper as he spoke outside the White House to a press corps desperate for his response to the latest shocking impeachment news, and written on it was his own incantation, a musing on the theme of want.

Play Video 2:28 'I want nothing': Trump denies quid pro quo after Sondland testimony – video

“I want nothing.

“I want nothing.

“I want no quid pro quo,” Trump’s note read.

The whimsical message to self differed from the last time Trump was captured holding a handwritten note.

That happened in March, when Trump was roundly mocked for clutching a handwritten message a reminding him to say “I hear you” while chatting with survivors of school shootings.

That text, however, was reportedly written by Hope Hicks, Trump’s former communications director.