President’s EU envoy denies sex allegations
THREE women have accused Gordon Sondland, the United States ambassador to the EU, of sexual misconduct.
Mr Sondland, who provided key testimony in Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings last week, suggested that the accusers were trying to taint his credibility in the investigation.
The allegations were outlined in an article by Portland Monthly on Wednesday night.
Jana Solis, one of the accusers, said she met Mr Sondland, a hotel owner from Seattle, in 2008 when she was seeking work in her position as a safety expert for hotels.
She said that he invited her to his home in Portland, Oregon, and that he exposed himself in the pool house. At a later meeting, Mr Sondland forcibly kissed her, she claimed.
Nicole Vogel, who owns Portland Monthly, said she met Mr Sondland in 2003 over dinner to seek investment in a new magazine. She claimed he took her to a hotel he owned and attempted to kiss her. Ms Vogel said she refused the advances and left but Mr Sondland later declined funding for her project.
Mr Sondland has strongly denied all the accusations. “These untrue claims of unwanted touching and kissing are concocted and, I believe, coordinated for political purposes,” he said. “They have no basis in fact and I categorically deny them”.
Meanwhile yesterday, Mr Trump paid a surprise visit to US troops stationed in Afghanistan, where he announced that the US and the Taliban had been engaged in ongoing peace talks and were close to making a deal.