U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland arrives to testify before a House Intelligence Committee hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 20, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. envoy Gordon Sondland told lawmakers on Wednesday that President Donald Trump ordered him to work with Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters, and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was aware and “fully supportive” of their efforts.

Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, said Giuliani’s efforts to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Trump’s political rivals “were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for Zelenskiy,” he said prepared testimony for an impeachment hearing.