Sondland, Trump's informal Ukraine connection, faces impeachment hearing
Send a link to a friend
[November 20, 2019]
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. diplomat Gordon
Sondland has told two different stories to lawmakers leading the
impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, he is
certain to face sharp questions about which one is right.
The wealthy hotel entrepreneur who serves as U.S. ambassador to the
European Union could be the most crucial witness yet in a week of
televised hearings that have laid bare the misgivings of U.S. officials
about Trump's dealings in Ukraine.
Sondland was a central player in the president's informal campaign to
get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden, a leading
Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential election. He says he did
not initially realize that the former vice president was a target.
Unlike some other figures close to Trump, Sondland has cooperated with
the impeachment investigation. But Sondland's story has not been
consistent, and has differed in some respects from the accounts of other
witnesses.
Sondland told lawmakers in closed-door testimony last month that he saw
no link between Trump's investigation request and the White House's
decision to temporarily withhold $391 million in security aid to
Ukraine.
Weeks later, Sondland updated his story in supplemental testimony,
telling lawmakers he had remembered that he had told Ukraine President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration that it would likely not get the
money unless they publicly committed to taking action.
Sondland also did not tell lawmakers about a July 26 phone call that
another witness said he conducted with Trump on a mobile phone in a Kiev
restaurant that is certain to be a prominent subject in Wednesday's
hearing.
According to U.S. embassy staffer David Holmes, Sondland told Trump
during that call that Zelenskiy would conduct the investigation he
sought. After hanging up, according to Holmes, Sondland said that Trump
only cared about "big stuff" like the "Biden investigation."
[to top of second column]
|
U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland poses ahead of a meeting
with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and White
House senior adviser Jared Kushner (unseen) at the EU Commission
headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, June 4, 2019. Picture taken June
4, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Kurt Volker, a former diplomat who worked with Sondland on the
Ukraine negotiations, said in testimony to lawmakers on Tuesday:
"Ambassador Sondland is a big personality and sometimes he says
things that might be a bit bigger than life."
The hearings by the House Intelligence Committee could eventually
lead to articles of impeachment -- formal charges -- being voted on
by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
But the effort is not likely to force Trump from office, as the
Republican-controlled Senate would have to vote to convict him by a
two-thirds margin -- a prospect that Senate Republican Leader Mitch
McConnell dismissed as "inconceivable" on Tuesday.
Trump has denied wrongdoing, called the inquiry a witch hunt and a
sham, and assailed some of the witnesses.
According to Reuters/Ipsos polling, 46 percent of Americans support
impeachment, while 41 percent oppose it.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu;
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|