A top U.S. diplomat told House committees last week that efforts by President Trump and his allies to press Kyiv to open investigations in exchange for a White House meeting with Ukraine's president amounted to a quid pro quo, his lawyer said.
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told House committees that he believed Ukraine agreeing to open investigations into Burisma Group-a gas company where Democrat Joe Biden's son once served on the board-and into alleged 2016 election interference was a condition for a White House meeting between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Sondland's lawyer Robert Luskin said.
NBC News has reported that Mr. Sondland was asked whether the arrangement for a meeting constituted a quid pro quo and didn't dispute it.
Mr. Sondland told the committees he wasn't involved in the decision to hold the aid to Ukraine and couldn't independently corroborate the president's assertions to him that the money being held up was unrelated to the push for investigations.
His testimony about perceiving a separate connection between a White House meeting and investigations runs somewhat counter to a text message he sent Mr. Taylor in September, after Mr. Taylor wrote: "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." Mr. Sondland responded, after speaking with the president: "The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind."
Mr. Taylor testified that Mr. Sondland told him on Sept. 8 that he had spoken to Mr. Trump and that the president "Was adamant that President Zelensky, himself, had to 'clear things up and do it in public,'" and that Mr. Trump insisted this wasn't a quid pro quo.
Mr. Sondland told House committees that the president told him: "There's no quid pro quo, but Zelensky's got to get out there and do the right thing," according to his lawyer.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sondland-told-house-panels-trumps-ukraine-pressure-was-quid-pro-quo-11572135674?mod=hp_lead_pos4
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told House committees that he believed Ukraine agreeing to open investigations into Burisma Group-a gas company where Democrat Joe Biden's son once served on the board-and into alleged 2016 election interference was a condition for a White House meeting between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Sondland's lawyer Robert Luskin said.
NBC News has reported that Mr. Sondland was asked whether the arrangement for a meeting constituted a quid pro quo and didn't dispute it.
Mr. Sondland told the committees he wasn't involved in the decision to hold the aid to Ukraine and couldn't independently corroborate the president's assertions to him that the money being held up was unrelated to the push for investigations.
His testimony about perceiving a separate connection between a White House meeting and investigations runs somewhat counter to a text message he sent Mr. Taylor in September, after Mr. Taylor wrote: "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." Mr. Sondland responded, after speaking with the president: "The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind."
Mr. Taylor testified that Mr. Sondland told him on Sept. 8 that he had spoken to Mr. Trump and that the president "Was adamant that President Zelensky, himself, had to 'clear things up and do it in public,'" and that Mr. Trump insisted this wasn't a quid pro quo.
Mr. Sondland told House committees that the president told him: "There's no quid pro quo, but Zelensky's got to get out there and do the right thing," according to his lawyer.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sondland-told-house-panels-trumps-ukraine-pressure-was-quid-pro-quo-11572135674?mod=hp_lead_pos4
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