U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland testifies in Washington, D.C., November 20, 2019. (Loren Elliott/Reuters)

The usually wiser crew at the Washington Examiner takes a shot at Amb. Gordon Sondland for wearing “a $55,300, 18-carat, white gold watch during his impeachment testimony on Wednesday”, and notes that the cost of the watch is nearly the median annual U.S. household income, which is $63,179.

Sondland built a hotel empire, co-founded a private equity firm, and reported assets worth between $78 million and $185 million on his financial disclosure forms. Somehow it’s less than stunning to learn he wears an extremely expensive watch.


I suppose we’re supposed to find Sondland a now-untrustworthy figure, because he wears the watch of a wealthy urban elitist or something like that. Then again, wouldn’t a wealthy urban elitist recognize one of those watches while watching the hearings on television?