US ambassador to give deposition in House’s impeachment probe
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union ensnared in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, will give a deposition to House committees investigating the president’s pressure on a foreign leader to investigate a domestic political rival.
Sondland will meet behind closed doors Tuesday with the three panels — Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and House Oversight — spearheading the probe, according to a committee aide.
The official on Saturday confirmed the schedule on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. NBC News first reported Sondland’s planned appearance.
A whistleblower’s complaint revealed a July 25 call in which Trump pressed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the activities of former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, and his son and subsequent efforts to restrict access to records of the call. It also alleged that Trump asked Zelenskiy to look into unproven allegations that Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election originated in Ukraine.
Trump again maligned the whistleblower, Democrats and the news media in tweets Saturday morning, baselessly calling The New York Times and The Washington Post “pure fiction.”
“The so-called Whistleblower’s account of my perfect phone call is ‘way off,’ not even close. (Rep. Adam) Schiff and (Speaker Nancy) Pelosi never thought I would release the transcript of the call. Got them by surprise, they got caught. This is a fraud against the American people!” Trump also tweeted.
As part of their investigation, the committees subpoenaed the White House for documents on Friday, a step they had announced earlier in the week, and demanded documents from Vice President Mike Pence.
Sondland worked behind the scenes to carry out Trump’s wishes in a country that’s not part of the European Union. The ambassador met with Zelenskiy to give “advice” about how to “navigate” Trump’s demands, the whistleblower reported. And in text messages turned over to House investigators Thursday, Sondland insisted that Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was not a quid pro quo — as diplomat William “Bill” Taylor had feared, according to the texts.
“Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions,” Sondland wrote last month, before urging Taylor, the U.S. charges d’affaires in Ukraine, to call him instead.