Just one hour before the House was set to depose U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, the State Department ordered the ambassador not to appear before the committees leading the impeachment inquiry, CNN reported.
Talking Points Memo
The state department has blocked EU ambassador Gordon Sondland from testifying in private to House Democrats conducting an impeachment inquiry, as was scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Sondland had been due to testify voluntarily, regarding communications between Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine, Vlodimir Zelinskiy, in particular a 25 July phone call in which the US leader asked his counterpart to investigate Joe Biden, a likely opponent in the 2020 election.
His attorney, Robert Luskin, issued a statement saying: “He is a sitting ambassador and employee of state and is required to follow their direction.”
“Ambassador Sondland is profoundly disappointed that he will not be able to testify today,” the statement said, adding that he had travelled to Washington from Brussels to prepare for his testimony.
[...]
The White House appears to have calculated that Sondland’s testimony might be more damaging than facing the wrath of the House over his absence. The wealthy Oregon hotelier was named ambassador to the EU last year after donating $1m to Trump’s inauguration fund.
Guardian
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.[Sondland] was a late convert to President Donald Trump, initially supporting another candidate in the Republican primary and once refusing to participate in a fundraiser on his behalf.
But Gordon Sondland nonetheless donated $1 million to Trump's election effort and ultimately scored a plum post as U.S. ambassador to the European Union.
Tampa Bay Times
UPDATE:
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