Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will testify on Wednesday in front of the House impeachment inquiry after earlier witnesses contradicted his earlier deposition in closed-door meetings, which he later amended.
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“State Department was fully supportive of our engagement in Ukraine affairs, and was aware that a commitment to investigations was among the issues we were pursuing,” Sondland will testify, according to his opening remarks.
He claimed that President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton knew about the campaign to pressure for investigations in Ukraine. Trump, Ukrainian officials, and other White House officials have denied any bribery or quid pro quo investigations.
Sondland is a notable witness because he amended his closed-door testimony (pdf) to the House. In the revised testimony, Sondland said the White House clearly engaged in quid pro quo in Ukraine.
In the revision, Sondland claimed he recalled a Sept. 1 meeting with Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, about probes in Ukraine. “After a large meeting, I now recall speaking individually with Mr. Yermak, where I said that resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks,” Sondland said.
Sondlands claims were contradicted by Ukraines Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko, who said that Sondland didnt link a probe into Joe or Hunter Biden to military aid.
“Ambassador Sondland did not tell us, and certainly did not tell me, about a connection between the assistance and the investigations. You should ask him,” Prystaiko stated,
