One of the witnesses who testified at then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in late 2019 has filed a lawsuit against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the State Department.
Gordon Sondland, the previous administration’s ambassador to the European Union, filed the suit in a federal court in the District of Columbia on Monday over the reimbursement of legal fees.
Sondland is looking to receive $1.8 million, which he claims he is owed because Pompeo allegedly promised that the State Department would reimburse him for the costs of his legal team during the impeachment testimony.
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The suit claimed that Pompeo had the “authority to bind the government to an agreement whereby the Government, through the United States Department of State would reimburse [Sondland] all of his attorneys fees and costs in connection with complying with Congressional subpoenas.”
Pompeo supposedly told Sondland that government attorneys were “declared unavailable to advise or represent” him and that the former secretary of state “bucked normal convention and denied him the services of any government counsel.”
A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner, “We decline to comment on pending litigation.”
Sondland claimed his testimony, in which he acknowledged a “quid pro quo” agreement between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was the reason he didn’t get his money back.
“After Pompeo learned what Ambassador Sondland’s testimony was before Congress during the 2019 Impeachment Inquiry — words that were entirely candid and truthful (but uncomfortable to the Trump Administration) — Pompeo reneged on his promise,” the suit added. “As a result, the Government has withheld reimbursement of Ambassador Sondland’s attorneys’ fees and costs in willful breach of the October 2019 agreement between Pompeo, the Government and Ambassador Sondland.”
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The impeachment investigation, according to most congressional democrats, centered on the former president allegedly using the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats, including Joe Biden. Democrats said Trump withheld critical security aid from Ukraine to force the government to conduct the investigations.
The Senate acquitted Trump in February 2020 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
