7 things we learned from Gordon Sondland's impeachment testimony. Sondland pointed the finger at Trump, Pompeo and Bolton, while Laura Cooper testified Ukrainians were aware of the aid situation earlier than previously known. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is sworn in at the House impeachment inquiry hearing on Wednesday.
3. "Everyone was in the loop," including Pompeo, Bolton. In an especially explosive part of his opening statement, Sondland implicated Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser John Bolton and several other top officials in those two agencies.
Sondland said Wednesday he directly told Vice President Mike Pence of his concerns about a possible link between the release of military aid to Ukraine and the announcement of the investigations by Ukraine into Burisma Holdings and the 2016 election. He noted that this occurred when Pence was in Warsaw, Poland, for a Sept. 1 meeting with Zelenskiy. Sondland was there, as well.
He added that Zelenskiy, during his meeting with Pence, "raised the issue of security assistance directly with Vice President Pence" and that Pence said "he would speak to President Trump about it.". Sondland's accusation about Pence puts the vice president squarely in the middle of the saga.
Sondland acknowledges direct line to Trump. Sondland also confirmed he'd held a July 26 phone call with Trump that only came to light last week when Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified that one of his staffers had overheard it.
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 ...
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.
They can — and are expected to — delegate the bulk of that questioning time to their committee lawyers instead. Daniel Goldman , a former federal prosecutor, is the lawyer for the Democrats, and Steve Castor is the lawyer for the Republicans.
On Thursday, the committee will hear testimony from Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia involved in the July 10 meeting, and Holmes, the official who overheard the July 26 conversation between Sondland and Trump. Their testimony is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET.
According to a witness who testified about the call, State Department official David Holmes, Sondland then said that Trump "only cares about 'big stuff'" when it comes to Ukraine, like the "Biden investigation.".