Gordon Sondland

Gordon Sondland, the former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union who was a key witness in the 2019 impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump, filed suit against the U.S. government and ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday, arguing he reneged on a promise to reimburse Sondland for attorneys' fees accrued during the House investigation.

Another high-profile witness in President Trump’s impeachment inquiry, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, said Friday he’s been recalled.

“I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States Ambassador to the European Union,” Mr. Sondland said in a statement. He expressed gratitude to Mr. Trump “for having given me the opportunity to serve.”

Three women say they faced sexual misconduct by Gordon Sondland before he was the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and at the center of the presidential impeachment inquiry. They say he retaliated against them professionally after they rejected his advances.

In one case, a potential business partner recalls that Sondland took her to tour a room in a hotel he owns, only to then grab her face and try to kiss her. After she rejected him, Sondland backtracked on investing in her business.

This Abridge News topic aggregates four unique arguments on different sides of the debate. Here are the quick facts to get you started:

THE QUICK FACTS

The Trump administration's Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, appeared before the House Intelligence Committee's impeachment panel yesterday, and his testimony was very significant. In my view, it confirmed myriad abuses of power and unethical conduct by the president and his team vis-a-vis Ukraine, including the establishment of an explicit quid pro quo. It also, however, handed President Trump and his defenders a number of potent talking points that cut against the impeachment and removal narrative.

Republicans tried to throw Gordon Sondland under the bus. He took Trump with him.

Over the first three days of testimony in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, Republicans have tried out a number of defenses. After the Wednesday testimony of Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, almost all of them have been incinerated.

The only thing damning about Wednesday’s testimony was the testimony itself.

After the House Intelligence Committee hearing, pundits and politicians on the left tried to claim Gordon Sondland’s testimony as a win — even as a “bombshell.” But in reality, he dropped bombs while also defusing them. He was contradictory and confused, but House Democrats didn’t care. This was just the latest chapter in a book they wrote months ago.

President Trump on Wednesday said that Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee should exonerate him of any claims of wrongdoing in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into him.

Speaking to reporters before departing on a scheduled trip to Texas, Trump claimed that Sondland’s testimony means “it’s all over” for the proceedings and that the House inquiry into Trump should come to a halt.

President Trump, Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and much of officialdom was "in the loop" throughout the Ukraine affair, a key witness told Congress on Wednesday in watershed testimony.

Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, rejected the idea that he was part of any back channel or shadow effort.

He said he conferred with the State Department and the National Security Council all this year as he and other envoys worked to try to get concessions for Trump from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.