US envoy ‘followed Trump’s orders’ on Ukraine
There was ‘quid pro quo’, ambassador tells hearing
US AMBASSADOR Gordon Sondland has told congressional impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani was pushing a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine that he had to go along with because it was what Donald Trump wanted.
“Mr Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president,” Mr Sondland told the House of Representatives committee hearing.
Mr Giuliani is Mr Trump’s personal lawyer.
Mr Sondland said: “I know that members of this committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’ As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White
House meeting, the answer is yes.”
“We did not want to work with Mr Giuliani,” the ambassador said, but he added that Mr Trump told him and other diplomats working on Ukraine issues “talk with Rudy” on those matters. “So we followed the president’s orders.”
He also confirmed he spoke with Mr Trump on a mobile phone from a busy Kiev restaurant the day after the president prodded Ukraine’s leader to investigate political rival Joe Biden.
Mr Sondland, the most anticipated witness in the inquiry, said
he kept secretary of state Mike Pompeo and other senior administration officials aware of what was going on.
He said he specifically told vice president Mike Pence he “had concerns” that US military aid to Ukraine “had become tied” to the investigations.
“Everyone was in the loop,” Mr Sondland said in opening remarks. “It was no secret.”
The wealthy hotelier and Trump donor, who is the United States Ambassador to the European Union, has emerged as a central figure in an intense week with nine witnesses giving evidence over three days. He has told legislators the White House has records of the July 26 call, despite the fact Mr Trump has said he does not recall the conversation.
The ambassador’s account of the recently revealed call supports the evidence of multiple witnesses who have spoken to impeachment investigators over the past week.
Mr Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrats as he was withholding military aid to the east European nation is at the centre of the impeachment probe that imperils his presidency.
Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret. US ambassador Gordon Sondland.