Oct 11, 2019 · Sondland is also being represented by attorneys Robert Luskin and Kwame Manley regarding his testimony. It's also not the first time McDermott has had a high-profile client.
Nov 20, 2019 · Following Sondland's testimony, which is set for 9 a.m. ET Wednesday, ... Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor, is the lawyer for the Democrats, ...
Nov 21, 2019 · Lawyer With Iconoclastic Bent Navigates Sondland Through Testimony Issues The lawyer, Robert Luskin, also represented the Republican strategist Karl Rove and likely spared him a perjury charge....
Gordon Sondland is a wealthy hotelier, a Republican mega-donor and President Donald Trump's hand-picked ambassador to the European Union — and the man who witnesses say directly connected Trump to the freeze on security aid to Ukraine and demands that it commit to investigating the 2016 U.S. election and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Taylor said Sondland told Taylor to call him. "During that phone call, Ambassador Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelenskiy to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election," Taylor testified. "Ambassador Sondland said, 'everything' was ...
He's described himself as a lifelong Republican, and donated to Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush's presidential campaigns. He refused to back Trump's 2016 campaign, citing the then-candidate's criticism of a Gold Star family. He was named ambassador to the European Union after donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration.
Gordon Sondland. Gordon David Sondland (born July 16, 1957) is an American businessman. He is the founder and chairman of Provenance Hotels. He also served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 2018 to 2020.
Early life. Sondland was born to a Jewish family in Mercer Island, Washington, the son of Frieda (Piepsch) and Gunther Sondland. His mother fled Germany before the Second World War to Uruguay, where after the war she reunited with his father, who had served in the French Foreign Legion. In 1953, the Sondlands relocated to Seattle ...
Provenance is also known for designing or remodeling each hotel around themes that contain elements that relate to a location's history, art, culture, and local businesses. In 2013, Sondland and Provenance completed a renovation of Portland's historic Governor Hotel, renaming it Sentinel.
In his public testimony on November 20, Sondland said it was at the "express direction of the president" that he, Kurt Volker, and Rick Perry, commonly referred to as "the three amigos," worked with Giuliani on Ukraine matters even though they were uncomfortable with Giuliani's role . He said that the leadership of the State Department and the National Security Council, including Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, were fully informed of their activities and Giuliani's, adding "Everyone was in the loop." He said that Trump, through Giuliani, was clearly demanding a public commitment by Zelensky to investigate Burisma (a Ukrainian gas company where Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden had sat on the board) and the 2016 election as a prerequisite to receive a White House invitation or phone call. "Was there a ‘quid pro quo? The answer is yes," he said in his opening remarks. The quid pro quo in question was relating to the public commitment by Zelensky to investigate Burisma and the 2016 election as a prerequisite to receive a White House invitation or phone call. He said it was "his personal guess" that the aid to Ukraine was also being withheld to achieve that goal, but that he never heard Trump say so. Although he confirmed that he had conversed by phone with Trump on July 26 as previously reported by Taylor and Holmes, who both testified that during that call Trump had asked if Ukraine would investigate the Bidens, Sondland said that he "had no reason to doubt" that the subject had included investigations but he "had no recollection" of discussing the Bidens. Kurt Volker and Rick Perry also denied that the connection between Burisma investigation and the Bidens was mentioned. Sondland testified to Devin Nunes that he remains "a proud member of the three amigos," and said that he would have objected to the Burisma investigation if he had connected it to the Bidens. In her testimony on the following day Fiona Hill was asked, "Is it credible to you that Mr. Sondland was completely in the dark about this [connection] all summer?" she replied, "It is not credible to me that he was oblivious."
Philanthropy. Sondland founded the Gordon Sondland and Katherine J. Durant Foundation in 1999, which was established to "help families and boost communities"; it has given money to various non-profits including $1,000,000 to the Portland Art Museum to endow permanent access for children under the age of eighteen.
During the Impeachment trial of Donald Trump which began on January 16, 2020, and ended on February 5, The Washington Post wrote that Sondland's House testimony played a "central role" in the trial, reporting that House testimony was used both for and against a case for Trump's alleged attempt to use a quid pro quo to persuade Zelensky to deliver dirt on Biden in exchange for congressional funding for Ukraine. Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff opened with a Sondland statement in which he said , “Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously with regard to the requested White House call and the White House meeting, the answer is yes.” But Trump's attorneys used Sondland's earlier statement wherein he said that Trump told him that he wanted “no quid pro quo ” and what they saw as Sondland's "tendency to portray his uninformed opinions and presumptions as fact"
Robert D. Luskin, the lawyer for Gordon D. Sondland, on Wednesday during the impeachment hearing where his client testified. Credit... WASHINGTON — The Republican strategist Karl Rove told a federal grand jury conducting a high-profile investigation in 2004 that he had never talked to a journalist who disclosed the identity of an undercover C.I.A.
He was forced to amend it in writing. Andrew Weissmann , a former prosecutor on the special counsel’s team that investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, said he could imagine the advice that Mr. Luskin gave Mr. Sondland before he returned to the witness table.
Gordon David Sondland (born July 16, 1957) is an American businessman. He is the founder and chairman of Provenance Hotels. He also served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 2018 to 2020. In November 2019, Sondland testified as a witness at the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. He was fired by Trump on February 7, 2020, two days after the conclusion of Trump's impeachment trial.
Sondland was born to a Jewish family in Mercer Island, Washington, the son of Frieda (Piepsch) and Gunther Sondland. His mother fled Germany before the Second World War to Uruguay, where after the war she reunited with his father, who had served in the French Foreign Legion. In 1953, the Sondlands relocated to Seattle where they opened a dry-cleaning business. Sondland has a sister 18 years his senior. He attended the University of Washingtonbut dropped out and becam…
In 1985, Sondland raised $7.8 million from friends and his wealthy brother-in-law and purchased the Roosevelt Hotel, a bankrupt Seattle hotel.
Sondland's company, Provenance Hotels, owns and manages hotels throughout the United States, including the Hotel Max and Hotel Theodore in Seattle, Washington; Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington; Hotel deLuxe, Hotel Lucia, Sentinel Hotel, Dossier, and Heathman Hotel in Portland, O…
Sondland was a member of the transition team for Oregon Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski's administration and was appointed by Kulongoski to serve on the board of the Governor's Office of Film & Television. He was appointed the commission's chair in 2002 and has served in that capacity until 2015. During his tenure on the film board, Sondland was instrumental in bringing the production of such television series as Leverage, The Librarians, and Grimmto Oregon and presid…
Sondland founded the Gordon Sondland and Katherine J. Durant Foundation in 1999, which was established to "help families and boost communities"; it has given money to various non-profits including $1,000,000 to the Portland Art Museumto endow permanent access for children under the age of eighteen. The Foundation helped establish a Distinguished Chair in Spine for pediatric orthopedic spine research at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in 2012. In 2014, the F…
On September 3, 1994, Sondland married Katherine Durant, the founder and managing partner of Atlas/RTG, a holding company with a portfolio of shopping centers throughout Oregon. Until 2016, Durant was the Chairperson of the Oregon Investment Council, the body that oversees the over $85 billion Public Employees Retirement System Fund. They have two children, Max and Lucy.
In November 2019, Nicole Vogel and two other women accused Sondland of sexual misconduct. …