Star witness Gordon Sondland accused of sexual misconduct
3 women allege unwanted advances
Three women have accused Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, of making unwanted sexual advances toward them years before his recent turn as a star witness at the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
The women shared their accounts with ProPublica and Portland Monthly, which published them online Wednesday in a joint investigative project between the nonprofit news organization and the Oregon magazine.
The publication of the allegations came exactly one week after Mr. Sondland appeared before Congress and gave what was widely viewed as damaging testimony about Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and a quid pro quo. Mr. Sondland, 62, a businessman and hotelier, contributed $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee.
The report identified the three women as Jana Solis, Natalie Sept and Nicole Vogel, the owner of Portland Monthly. The magazine said Ms. Vogel was not involved in editorial decisions and that the magazine’s editorial team decided independently to pursue the story.
Ms. Sept and Ms. Vogel confirmed Wednesday night that their accounts in the report were accurate. Ms. Solis could not immediately be reached for comment, but all three told the magazine that it felt like Mr. Sondland had retaliated against them after they rejected his advances.
In an email, Ms. Sept said she had been “haunted by this experience — especially since seeing Sondland’s confirmation as ambassador.”
“I never met either of the other two women, yet each of our stories contained corroborative elements, which were recounted in the ProPublica and Portland Monthly story,” she said. “I’m coming forward now so other women can tell their stories, and be believed.”
Mr. Sondland disputed the women’s allegations and questioned their timing in a statement posted on his personal website, saying that they were at odds with his character.
“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.”
Jim McCarthy, a spokesman for Mr. Sondland, challenged the independence of the Portland Monthly’s reporting in a statement.
The magazine said it started reporting the story in October, around the time that Mr. Sondland gave a closed-door deposition to the House Intelligence Committee in which he said there was no quid pro quo by Mr. Trump seeking to tie foreign aid for Ukraine to an investigation into the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. Mr. Sondland later changed his testimony.