Gordon Sondland, who gave a million dollars to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee and was later appointed ambassador to the European Union, has emerged as a key witness in the impeachment inquiry. He will testify before House investigators on Wednesday in a public hearing that is expected to end in fireworks.
Since his 10-hour, closed-door deposition with House investigators on Oct. 17, Sondland has changed his position. On Nov. 5, he submitted significant revisions to his sworn testimony, noting that other witnesses in the impeachment inquiry had “refreshed my recollection about certain conversations.”
In one such revision, Sondland completely reversed himself. He initially told investigators that he was not aware of Ukrainian officials being asked to do anything in exchange for a resumption of U.S. military aid. (“The President has been crystal clear,” he told Ukraine Ambassador Bill Taylor. “No quid pro quos of any kind.”) But in his revised testimony, Sondland wrote that he was not only aware of a quid pro quo, but also that he had been the one to deliver the ultimatum. In his Nov. 5 revised testimony, he wrote that he now remembered that he had personally relayed a message to one of the Ukrainian president’s aides that resumption of U.S. military aid “would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement.”
This statement referred to a public announcement that Ukraine was opening probes into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, as well as a discredited conspiracy theory about Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election. Sondland and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani were key drivers behind getting Ukraine to issue the statement, according to sworn testimony.
Since Sondland submitted his revised testimony, another previously undisclosed phone call he had with Trump became public. Ambassador William Taylor, the U.S. charges d’affaires in Kyiv, said during his testimony that one of his aides had overheard a July 26 call between Sondland and Trump while they were dining at a restaurant. The aide, David Holmes, testified before the committees conducting the inquiry last Friday. During that phone call, Sondland told Trump that Zelensky “loves your ass,” and affirmed to the President that his Ukrainian counterpart would conduct the requested investigations, Holmes told the committee.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Holmes said. “Someone calling the President from a mobile phone at a restaurant, and then having a conversation of this level of candor, colorful language.” Holmes also raised his concerns that the mobile phone call from the restaurant in the Ukrainian capital had been monitored by Russians. An attorney for Sondland declined to comment when asked about the revised testimony, saying his client would address it in the public hearings.
President Trump has tried to distance himself since Sondland revised his testimony. “Let me just tell you: I hardly know the gentleman,” he told reporters earlier this month. After news of the July 26th phone call, Trump said he could not recall such a conversation.
Sondland’s testimony is likely to dominate headlines Wednesday. “As we saw with Ambassador Volker today other witness testimony can help remind or clarify or add additional detail,” a Democratic official working on the inquiry told TIME. “Obviously a lot of depositions and hearings have happened since Sondland first came in.”
The committee will also hear from two more witnesses in the afternoon. Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia is expected to testify about what she knew about the hold-up of aid to Ukraine. David Hale, the under Secretary of state for political affairs, the highest ranking official at the State Department to testify, was requested to appear by Republicans on the committee. He will likely be questioned about the abrupt ouster of former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Hale previously told investigators that, as negative media narratives about Yovanovitch emerged, he pushed his colleagues at the State Department to issue a statement in her defense, but ultimately failed.
TIME reporters will be in the room and watching. Follow along for updates.
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