Gordon Sondland will not “protect the president at all costs,” the hotel tycoon-turned-ambassador told House impeachment investigators today.
“I understand that some people may have their own specific agendas,” Sondland said in a prepared opening statement. “Some may want me to say things to protect the president at all costs. Some may want me to provide damning facts to support the other side. But none of that matters to me. I have no interest in pursuing higher office or taking political shots. Simply put, I am not here to push an agenda. I am here to tell the truth.”
Sondland is a central figure in the controversy that sparked the impeachment inquiry, as text messages appear to show him pushing Ukraine to launch an inquiry that President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, hoped would embarrass Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. But Sondland denied knowing Giuliani’s true intent in seeking an investigation into Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that hired Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, at a time when the owner of the company was facing corruption charges of his own.
“I understood that Burisma was one of many examples of Ukrainian companies run by oligarchs and lacking the type of corporate governance structures found in Western companies,” Sondland said. “I did not know until more recent press reports that Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma.”
Sondland, a hotel mogul who was appointed after donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee, sought to shed the “loyalist” label that some critics have attached to him. As part of that effort, he testified that Trump told his Ukraine team to work with Giuliani — a request Sondland balked at.
“We were also disappointed by the president’s direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani,” Sondland said. “Please know that I would not have recommended that Mr. Giuliani or any private citizen be involved in these foreign policy matters.”
That criticism keyed a broader rebuke, as the ambassador also condemned any effort to seek foreign help in Trump’s reelection effort. The prepared testimony, from a political appointee regarded as having a good relationship with Trump, undermines the president’s argument that it was appropriate to urge Ukrainian officials to help Giuliani implicate Biden in a corruption scandal.
“Let me state clearly: Inviting a foreign government to undertake investigations for the purpose of influencing an upcoming U.S. election would be wrong,” Sondland said at the start of his closed-door deposition. “Withholding foreign aid in order to pressure a foreign government to take such steps would be wrong. I did not and would not ever participate in such undertakings.”
Sondland’s statement dovetails with the testimony from former U.S. Ambassador Kurt Volker, who resigned as the State Department’s lead negotiator for Ukraine last month. Both diplomats testified that Giuliani was a burden on their efforts to advance Trump’s relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. While they knew Giuliani had political motives for getting involved in Ukraine, they maintain he only was explicit about his desire to look back at the 2016 election.
“My goal was to keep the focus on Ukraine and the strengthened relationship with the United States,” Sondland said. “Again, I recall no discussions with any State Department or White House official about former Vice President Biden or his son, nor do I recall taking part in any effort to encourage an investigation into the Bidens.”
