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Who is Gordon Sondland? 5 things to know

In advance of his public testimony Wednesday, 91茄子 wrote a brief primer on U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland and why his testimony today matters.

He testified for hours, the former donor and now U.S. Ambassador to the European Union.

Gordon Sondland was front and center at Wednesday morning鈥檚 public impeachment hearing. His testimony connected President Trump directly to the Ukraine scheme, among other revelations.听

Sondland is a one-time Trump loyalist who donated $1 million to the president鈥檚 campaign, but Democrats are relying on Sondland鈥檚 testimony to that Trump used his power to pressure Ukraine to investigate his rivals.

Here are five things to know about Sondland:

1. He is a wealthy political appointee

Wealthy donor-turned-diplomat Sondland to the Trump campaign through his hotel companies, according to CNN. He has no foreign policy experience, unlike the other career professionals who testified publicly during hearings last week and on Tuesday, including former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, after her testimony Friday.

Sondland is a first-generation American who built his hotel fortune on his own.听 Sondland鈥檚 parents fled Nazi Germany.听

2. The president ordered Sondland and others to work with his personal attorney to carry out the pressure campaign on Zelenksy, according to Sondland鈥檚 testimony

Sondland on Wednesday said he had multiple conversations with Trump about pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.听

The move was spurred by Hunter鈥檚 relationship to the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings.听

Last week, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent testified the White House completely replaced foreign policy representatives with the so-called who were involved in a shadow foreign policy , The 鈥渁migos鈥 were Sondland, Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry

In his opening statement, Sondland stated 鈥渉e followed the president鈥檚 orders,鈥 implicating Trump in the scheme. The orders came from the top, he said, and the president ordered the amigos to “talk to Rudy.鈥

Sondland said he and others did not want to work with Giuliani, but did because it was “at the express direction for the president of the United States.” Giuliani “spoke for the president,” he said.

鈥淢r. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the president,鈥 Sondland said.听

If the scheme had panned out, Zelensky on a CNN program. The appearance was canceled after the military aid was released Sept.11.

 

3. Sondland reversed his initial testimony, admitting a 鈥渜uid pro quo鈥 and saying that top officials knew

Sondland Wednesday also implicated numerous top officials when he said “everyone was in the loop. It was no secret,鈥 referring to the pressure campaign on Zelensky.

“We all understood that these prerequisites for the White House call and White House meeting reflected President Trump鈥檚 desires and wishes,” Sondland said during his testimony.

Sondland testified there was a “quid pro quo” and that “a lot of people were aware of it” during his testimony Wednesday.听

鈥淢r. Guiliani鈥檚 requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelenksy,” Sondland said. “Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election, DNC server and Burisma.”

 

Sondland said the same thing during his in October. Then, a attached to the transcript, Sondland said he told a Zelensky aide that hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid would not be released to the country unless officials made a 鈥減ublic anti-corruption statement鈥 that had been under discussion 鈥渇or many weeks.鈥澨

5. Sondland said there were no plans to follow through with an investigation

During Wednesday’s public testimony, Sondland said he 鈥減resumed鈥 the aid was tied to the investigations, but that Trump did not personally tell him that there were preconditions.

Sondland said the military aid was conditioned only on the announcement, but not the actual investigation.

鈥淗e had to announce the investigations. He didn鈥檛 actually have to do them, as I understand it,” Sondland said.

听Last week, that Sondland told him that 鈥渆verything,鈥 including $400 million in military aid appropriated by Congress and a White House visit, was dependent on Zelensky making a public statement about investigating the Bidens.

Shabnam Danesh

Graduate journalism student at American University

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