Gordon Sondland Blames Ukraine Scandal on Trump

The efforts to push Ukraine into opening investigations came at the president’s “express direction,” he’ll tell the impeachment probe.

Tom Williams/ZUMA

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Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, plans to directly blame Donald Trump for efforts to coerce Ukraine into launching investigations against the president’s political enemies. Sondland’s prepared testimony, which you can read below, makes crystal clear that he has no intention of being the administration’s fall guy in the Ukraine scandal.

“First, Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker, and I worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the President of the United States,” Sondland will say at his public hearing on Wednesday in the impeachment inquiry. 

“As I testified previously, Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky…Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President.”

Sondland is now moments away from testifying. Follow along here as we continue to cover the fourth day of hearings.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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