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Gordon Sondland, the Portland hotelier turned senior diplomat for President Donald Trump, will testify Oct. 8 before Congress as part of the Trump impeachment inquiry, a source close to Sondland confirmed Thursday. Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, will be the first current federal employee to testify.

Sondland reportedly has not been subpoenaed and will appear before Congress voluntarily.

A whistleblower’s report raised concerns about Trump’s dealings with Ukrainian leaders. The report revealed that Sondland has made at least two trips to Ukraine, the country Trump asked to investigate his political rival former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter. Trump’s request has set off an explosive political dispute in Washington D.C., where Democrats in the House of Representatives have launched a formal impeachment inquiry.

Democrats argue that Trump asked a foreign power to interfere in the U.S. presidential election and in turn, withheld hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military assistance to assure cooperation. Trump denies it. His personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has made repeated trips to Ukraine, as have Sondland and Kurt Volker, the administration’s special envoy to Ukraine. Volker, who suddenly resigned his post last week, testified on Thursday before the three House committees overseeing the impeachment process.

House chairs investigating Trump and Ukraine just released the full text messages that were leaked today between Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland and Bill Taylor.



They are...explosive. https://t.co/YRppfhtFUZ pic.twitter.com/iCmV0zenH8 — Zach Basu (@zacharybasu) October 4, 2019

It’s unclear what Volker said in the closed-door sessions. It’s also unclear what Sondland will tell the House committees. Unlike Volker, he has not resigned and has recently defended the president. ABC News reported Thursday about a group text messages exchanged among Trump’s diplomatic personnel. At least one of the diplomats voiced concern about the appearance of a quid pro quo between Trump and Ukrainian leaders.

“I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” wrote State Department official Bill Taylor, according to the ABC report.

Sondland then allegedly replied: “Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign.”

ABC reports that Sondland then suggests that the diplomats stop having the conversation in writing. “I suggest we stop the back and forth by text,” he wrote.

Volker’s material included more internal communications.

ABC News today reported on group text messages among Trump diplomatic personnel. At least one of the diplomats voices concern about the appearance of a quid pro quo between Trump and Ukrainian leaders. Resumed military aid in exchange for a Biden investigation.

"I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," writes State Department official Bill Taylor.

Sondland then replied: "Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign."

ABC says Sondland then suggests that the diplomats stop having this conversation in writing. "I suggest we stop the back and forth by text," he writes.

Several other documents were made public Thursday, including a thread between Sondland and Volker. The two diplomats discussed contacts with Ukrainian officials and their requests for them to open an investigation. On Aug. 13, they appear to be drafting language for Ukrainian officials to announce an investigation.

Volker’s draft for the Ukrainian leaders went on: "I want to declare that this is unacceptable. We intend to initiate and complete a transparent and unbiased investigation of all available facts and episodes, including those involving Burisma and the 2016 U.S. elections, which in turn will prevent the recurrence of this problem in the future," Volker writes.

“Perfect,” Sondland responds, “Lets send to Andrey after our call."

"Andrey" is an apparent reference to Zelenskiy's aide Andrey Yermak, with whom Volker had put Giuliani in contact.

"Want to know our status on asking them to investigate," Volker said on Aug. 15 of contacting Yermak. Two days later, Sondland asks Volker for an update, and Volkers responds, "I've got nothing. Bill [Taylor] had no info on requesting an investigation -- calling a friend at DOJ (Bruce Schwartz)."

Schwartz is the deputy assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice. It’s unclear what role he had, if any.

Sondland asks, "Do we still want Ze to give us an unequivocal draft with 2016 and Boresma" -- which could be a reference to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, where Biden's son Hunter was a board member.

"That's the clear message so far..." Volker responds. "I'm hoping we can put something out there that causes him to respond with that."

Two days after that, Sondland says he has spoken to Yermak and "drove the 'larger issue' home with [him]. Not about just a meeting but the relationship per se." There have been questions about whether Trump was withholding a meeting with Zelenskiy in exchange for an investigation of the Biden's.

The two presidents met the next month during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. During a photo op before the meeting, Zelenskiy told reporters, "Nobody pushed me." Trump jumped in to add, "In other words, no pressure."

Taylor is the latest State Department official to be caught up in this controversy. A career foreign service officer who previously served as ambassador to Ukraine, Taylor has served as the top diplomat in Kiev since May, when Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was recalled by the administration. Yovanovitch had been smeared by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani for months as blocking Ukrainian investigations into corruption -- an allegation the State Department at the time called an “outright fabrication” that “does not correspond to reality.”

The whistleblower’s report mentions Sondland by name and claims he met twice with Ukrainian officials along with Volker, to help them “understand and respond to the differing messages they were receiving from official U.S. channels on the one hand and from Mr. Giuliani on the other.” That’s despite the fact that Ukraine is not a part of the EU.

The report also mentioned that Volker and Sondland advised Ukrainian officials “how to ‘navigate’ demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelenskyy.”

After Trump’s surprise victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, companies controlled by Sondland contributed $1 milllion to the new president’s inauguration. Trump then appointed Sondland ambassador to the European Union. His primary job there is to look after the U.S.'s trade with the European Union.

Read more:

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