Skip to main content
Poor Gordon Sondland. The Portland businessman-turned-ambassador to the European Union has become an unwitting star of President Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry.
It's safe to say congressional Democrats are eager for Sondland's Nov. 20 testimony (which will begin at 6 am Pacific time on cable news and streaming services). That's because Sondland, a neophyte diplomat with a seemingly boundless desire to ingratiate himself with the president, has been at the center of numerous witnesses' accounts of how the administration allegedly attempted to leverage $391 million in military aid to secure a Ukrainian investigation of Joe Biden.
Unlike many of the other witnesses, Sondland spoke directly to Trump about Ukraine. He played a central role between Washington and Kyiv and was also in touch with Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
Here's why Sondland's testimony should prove riveting:
• The differences between his original and revised testimony. When Sondland testified behind closed doors Oct. 20, he said he couldn't recall or remember details dozens of times in response to questions.
Most importantly, Sondland said he was unaware of any link between military aid and a potential investigation of Biden—i.e., there was no quid pro quo. After subsequent witnesses described meetings and conversations involving Sondland he hadn't mentioned, Sondland filed three pages of "revised" testimony Nov. 5.
"I now recall speaking individually with Mr. [Andriy] Yermak, where I said resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks," Sondland said, adding, "I presumed that the aid suspension had become linked to the proposed anti-corruption statement."
Investigators will want to know more about the discrepancies between his initial and revised testimonies.
• David Holmes' testimony. Holmes, a diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, testified behind closed doors Nov. 15. He introduced new information about a wild July 26 phone call he says he overheard Sondland make to Trump from Kyiv.
"I've never seen anything like this," Holmes testified, according to a transcript. "Someone calling the president from a mobile phone at a restaurant, and then having a conversation of this level of candor, colorful language. There's just so much about the call that was so remarkable that I remember it vividly."
Sondland reportedly told Trump in that call that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "loves your ass." Trump asked, "So he's going to do the investigation?" Sondland said yes: "He'll do anything you ask him to." In a subsequent conversation with Holmes, Sondland said Trump did not "give a shit" about Ukraine. Holmes reminded Sondland that Ukraine was at war with Russia. But Sondland told Holmes that Trump was more concerned with the "big stuff that matters to him, like this Biden investigation that Giuliani is pushing."
