Top diplomat says followed Trump orders on Ukraine ‘quid pro quo’

Washington: The US ambassador to the European Union told an impeachment hearing Wednesday that he followed President Donald Trump´s orders in seeking a “quid pro quo” deal for Ukraine to probe a political rival in exchange for a White House summit.

In explosive televised testimony, Sondland — whose appearance was being watched especially closely as he was a Trump ally — said he believed the president was pressing Ukraine to investigate his potential 2020 challenger Joe Biden. “We followed the president´s orders,” Sondland testified before the House Intelligence Committee.

He said that Trump forced US diplomats to work with his personal lawyer, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. Sondland said that Trump held off on offering a summit with Ukraine´s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as Giuliani demanded that Kiev publicly announce it was investigating a gas company on which former vice president Biden´s son Hunter held a paid board position. Giuliani also wanted Zelensky to investigate a widely discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine planted evidence on a server of Biden´s Democratic Party to show that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. “Mr Giuliani´s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky,” Sondland said. Sondland said he “never received a clear answer” on why the White House suspended $391 million in security aid to Ukraine, which is battling Russian-backed separatists, but that he “came to believe” it was also tied to the investigations sought by Trump.

“I was adamantly opposed to any suspension of aid, as the Ukrainians needed those funds to fight against Russian aggression,” he said. “In the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from Ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 election and Burisma, as Mr Giuliani had demanded,” he said.

Ambassador brings Pompeo deeper into in Trump impeachment: A US envoy said Wednesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo directed him to coordinate Ukraine policy with President Donald Trump´s lawyer, further implicating the top US diplomat in the impeachment drama.

Gordon Sondland — the US ambassador to the European Union who, unlike previous diplomats who testified in the inquiry, is a political appointee allied with Trump — also said that the State Department withheld documents vital for his appearance before lawmakers. Sondland said Pompeo had directed the US pointman on Ukraine, Kurt Volker, to speak with Trump´s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who was pushing Ukraine to investigate Trump´s domestic rival Joe Biden.

He said Pompeo´s stance did not change even after diplomats complained that Giuliani was meeting with an allegedly corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor without their knowledge. “Even as late as September 24, Secretary Pompeo was directing Kurt Volker to speak with Rudy Giuliani,” Sondland said. That is the same day that the White House released a July call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “do us a favor,” leading Democrats to move to impeach him.

Pompeo has repeatedly denounced the impeachment inquiry and has drawn fire from former diplomats for not defending career employees who have been caught up in the scandal and at times personally attacked by Trump. Sondland, a hotel owner who was appointed after donating to Trump´s campaign, said the State Department and White House refused to share documents as he complied with an order to appear before Congress. “These documents are not classified and, in fairness, should have been made available,” he said. “I have no doubt that a more fair, open and orderly process of allowing me to read the State Department records would have made this process more transparent,” he said.