WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment inquiry (all times local):
10:15 a.m.
Gordon Sondland is denying that in carrying out President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy he was engaging in “some kind of rogue diplomacy” or that he “muscled” his way into the issue.
Trump’s EU ambassador is testifying Wednesday in the House’s impeachment inquiry into Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden and his son while holding up military aide
Other witnesses have been generally consistent in saying that Sondland operated a parallel diplomatic effort orchestrated by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Sondland said Wednesday that the suggestion that he was engaged in “rogue diplomacy is absolutely false.” He said others were informed about the Ukraine strategy.
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10:05 a.m.
Ambassador Gordon Sondland says his recollection of a July 10 meeting with Ukrainian officials at the White House doesn’t square with those of other U.S. officials who have testified before the House committee in an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Sondland said Wednesday he doesn’t recall former White House national security adviser John Bolton cutting the meeting short.
Others have said Bolton abruptly ended the meeting after he became angry when the issue of investigations was raised. One witness said Bolton later said he didn’t want to be part of any “drug deal” being cooked up by Sondland and chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
Instead, Sondland said, after the meeting, they all went outside and took photos on the White House lawn.
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WASHINGTON (AP) – Ambassador Gordon Sondland is likely to be unpredictable when he faces questions about his evolving accounts of the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine and a newly revealed summertime phone call with President Donald Trump.
Sondland is the most anticipated witness in the impeachment inquiry and is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning before the House intelligence committee.
Sondland is a wealthy hotelier Trump tapped as his ambassador to the European Union. He is more directly entangled than any witness yet in the president’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and Democrats in the 2016 election.
Sondland’s closeness to Trump makes his appearance of particular concern to the White House as the historic impeachment inquiry reaches closer to the president.