The State Department has barred Gordon Sondland, the U.S. European Union ambassador, from appearing Tuesday before a House panel conducting the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, his lawyer said. Attorney Robert Luskin said his client was "profoundly disappointed" that he wouldn
1 / 3Trump ImpeachmentRep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee arrives for a formerly planned joint committee deposition with Ambassador Gordon Sondland, with the transcript to be part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. The Trump Administration ordered Ambassador Sondland not to appear. WASHINGTON — The State Department has barred Gordon Sondland, the U.S.
Until last week, Sondland was far better known in his home state of Washington than in the nation's capital, where he finds himself embroiled in an impeachment inquiry centered on a July 25 call between Trump and the Ukrainian president. But even if not accustomed to the global spotlight, the wealthy hotelier, philanthropist and contributor to political campaigns has long been comfortable around the well-connected on both sides of the political aisle.
The messages also show Sondland trying to reassure a third diplomat that their actions were appropriate, but that they should take precautions by limiting their text messages. The son of German immigrants who fled the Nazis in the 1930s and later founded their own dry cleaning business in Seattle, Sondland is best known in the Pacific Northwest as the founder of the Provenance Hotels chain. He and his wife also established a foundation that's bestowed millions of dollars on health care and regional arts and culture programs.
He still had concerns, though. In August 2016, Sondland and another hotelier, Bashar Wali, refused to take part in a fundraiser for Trump because of his criticism of the Muslim parents of an American soldier killed in combat, The Willamette Week reported. A spokeswoman for his hotel chain told the publication at the time that their names were added without their approval to a draft invitation for the event, and that neither would be participating.
"I'm profoundly troubled by something that is a lot bigger than Gordon's text messages," he said."People who try to help the president wind up being thrown under the bus and soiled by their association with a person who is so profoundly narcissistic and ungrateful. Many good people have been hurt by their association with him. I'm saddened to see this happening to Gordon, as it happened to so many people before him.
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