US envoy Sondland ‘followed president’s order’ on Giuliani

Ambassador Gordon Sondland is testifying that he “followed the president’s orders” to work with Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine.

Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, is a key witness in the House impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump.

He says that he and his colleagues did not want to involve the president’s personal attorney in diplomacy efforts with Ukraine, but they were told to by the president.

Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, waits to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill November 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)

Even though they didn’t like it, they also didn’t think it was improper at the time. Had he known that some of Giuliani’s associations with individuals who are now under criminal indictment, he never would have “acquiesced to his participation.”

Because he believed everything to be above board, they made every effort to keep people informed about the efforts.

He says the suggestion that he and others we were engaged in rogue diplomacy was absolutely false.

— AP