U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will now appear before the House committees probing impeachment next week, his attorney said on Friday morning.
He will not, however, turn over relevant documents to the committee.
“He respects the committees’ interest in reviewing all relevant materials; however, federal law and State Department regulations prohibit him from producing documents concerning his official responsibilities,” Sondland attorney Robert Luskin said in a statement. “Ambassador Sondland does not control the disposition of his documents. By federal law and regulation, the State Department has sole authority to produce such documents, and Ambassador Sondland hopes the materials will be shared with the Committees in advance of his Thursday testimony.”
Sondland will appear before the committees on Thursday, bucking the State Department’s initial directive to not testify as part of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
“After consultation with committee staff, his testimony is now scheduled for Thursday, October 17. Notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction to not testify, Ambassador Sondland will honor the committees’ subpoena, and he looks forward to testifying on Thursday,” Luskin said. “Ambassador Sondland has at all times acted with integrity and in the interests of the United States. He has no agenda apart from answering the Committees’ questions fully and truthfully.”
Sondland played a significant role in orchestrating various aspects of President Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden– the chain of events is at the center of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
He will, of course, sit there and state that “he would love to answer that question, but he has been instructed by his superiors that the answer would be subject to privilege and he must defer.”
Sorry to be cynical, but I predict that this will be a sham.
According to Morning Joe, Republicans in the House are pushing WH/Trump/Pompeo to let Sondland testify because they claim that CYA text (president is clear, there is no quid pro quo) proves Trump did nothing wrong.
Yes because a cover up planned by Trump, Sondland and WH Lawyers is not in play at all…we’re all so stupid to not see that Trump was on the up and up all along…even when all the facts show otherwise
Lotsa time between now and the 17th for Pompeo to reassert his authority. Or resign. Really, I’d be fine with resign, but appearing impotent is ok as a distant second choice.
I wouldn’t take testimony without the documents. You are going to want to ask him about the content of those documents and if he testifies first, he will refuse to come back once ordered to produce the documents – and he will be ordered to produce the documents.