Sondland ‘Does Not Recall’ Threatening Ukraine Over Security Aid: Attorney
QUID PRO... ?
U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland either does not recall or disputes the testimony made by the acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor to House investigators, Sondland’s attorney said. “Sondland does not recall any conversation in Warsaw concerning the aid cutoff, although he understood that the Ukrainians were, by then, certainly aware of the cutoff and raised the issue directly with [Mike] Pence,” Robert Luskin wrote in an email to The Washington Post. Taylor’s testimony challenges Sondland’s claim that he did not know of an alleged quid pro quo involving the White House holding nearly $400 million in security aid for Ukraine in exchange for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launching two investigations that could help President Trump politically. In Taylor’s testimony, he wrote that Sondland not only knew of the quid pro quo but also had threatened Ukraine—disputing Sondland’s testimony last week, when he said he knew Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani conditioned a White House invite for Zelensky on such investigations but that he did not know if the White House had also made the security aid contingent on Zelensky agreeing to the investigation.