A5
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019
Ambassador Sondland now
recalls communicating a
quid pro quo to Ukraine
By MOLLY YOUNG
and JEFF MANNING
The Oregonian
In an unexpected move,
Gordon Sondland, the U.S.
ambassador to the Euro-
pean Union, revised and at
times contradicted his ini-
tial testimony to Capitol
Hill investigators leading
the impeachment inquiry
into President Donald
Trump.
Sondland
essentially
asked a Congressional
impeachment panel for a
do-over Tuesday, submit-
ting three new pages of tes-
timony. The Portland real
estate investor now remem-
bers that he had, in fact, told
a Ukrainian government
offi cial that the country
risked losing American mil-
itary aid if it did not pub-
licly commit to the investi-
gation President Trump was
pushing for.
Sondland submitted his
newly restored memories
to House investigators the
day before they were set to
release the transcript of his
initial Oct. 17 testimony.
At the time, he said Trump
insisted on no “quid pro
quo” with Ukraine.
But now, Sondland said
he recalls a brief Sept.
1 conversation in War-
saw with a top Ukrainian
adviser, Andriy Yermak, in
which he made it clear that
U.S. aid was tied to a state-
ment from the Ukrainians.
Sondland described no such
meeting during his original
deposition.
“I now recall speak-
ing individually with Mr.
Yermak, where I said that
resumption of U.S. aid
would likely not occur until
Ukraine provided the public
anti-corruption statement
that we had been discussing
for many weeks.”
In his new testimony,
Sondland wrote that by the
time the meeting occurred,
he came to presume that
U.S. aid was linked to the
statement, but did not know,
“when, why or by whom the
aid was suspended.”
In recent weeks, as a
series of other witnesses
contradicted key details of
Sondland’s original testi-
mony, some politicians and
pundits have speculated
whether Sondland had per-
jured himself. Jim McDer-
mott, Sondland’s Portland
lawyer, said his client’s
intention with updating
his testimony was simply
intended to make the record
clear and accurate.
“Ambassador
Sond-
land’s sole objective is to
assist Congress by telling
the truth to the best of his
knowledge,” McDermott
said.
As for the contradic-
tions between Sondland
and other witnesses’ testi-
mony, McDermott said it’s
a routine phenomenon in
the U.S. justice system.
“It’s just an evolving,
complex series of events
with multiple witnesses,”
the lawyer said. “To me it’s
no surprise there are sig-
nifi cant differences in peo-
ple’s memory. It happens in
dozens of jury trials across
America every day.”
Aid tied to
announcement
In his new testimony,
Sondland said that his Sept.
1 conversation with Yermak
followed a “larger meeting
involving Vice President
Pence and President Zelen-
sky, in which President Zel-
ensky had raised the issue
of the suspension of U.S.
aid to Ukraine directly with
Vice President Pence.”
“Soon thereafter, I came
to understand that, in fact,
the public statement would
need to come directly from
President Zelensky him-
self,” he wrote.
“I do not specifi cally
recall how I learned this, but
I believe that the informa-
tion may have come either
from Mr. Giuliani or from
Ambassador Volker, who
may have discussed this
with Mr. Giuliani. In a later
conversation with Ambas-
sador Taylor, I told him that
I had been mistaken about
whether a public statement
could come from the Pros-
ecutor General; I had come
to understand that the pub-
lic statement would have to
come from President Zelen-
sky himself.”
News that the Ukrainian
aid had been suspended
became public days ear-
lier, on Aug. 28. The next
day, Yermak sent a link to
a Politico story that broke
the news to diplomat Kurt
Volker and asked to speak
with him.
During Sondland’s orig-
inal Oct. 17 deposition,
a questioner asked him
whether he remembered
being part of the conversa-
tions around the aid being
frozen around that time.
“I don’t recall having
any,” Sondland said. “I’m
not saying it didn’t occur,
but I don’t recall having
any. I think Volker was han-
dling those conversations.”
Later, he was pressed
directly if he spoke with the
Ukrainians about the freeze.
“I won’t swear to it, but
I don’t recall,” he said, “I
honestly don’t.”
Yermak’s name came up
more than 70 times during
the deposition, but never
the Sept. 1 meeting that
Sondland now remembers.
Sondland told investiga-
tors that Pence and a whole
ANNUAL
November
Birthday
SALE
NOVEMBER
8 TH -11 TH
President Donald Trump, right, greets U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon
Sondland.
cast of people attended
the Warsaw meeting. But
he said he did not remem-
ber any talks about link-
ing a White House visit to
a public anti-corruption
statement.
Also on Sept. 1, diplo-
mat William Taylor raised
concerns about tying aid
to a corruption investiga-
tion. “Are we now saying
that security assistance and
White House meeting are
conditioned on investiga-
tions?” he wrote in a text
message chain that included
Sondland.
“I said, ‘Call me.’ I
didn’t want to do this by
text. I wanted to have a
conversation.”
Contradictory
testimony
Sondland was known
in Portland as a savvy,
sharp-elbowed real estate
investor whose talent for
spotting opportunity built
him a huge fortune.
Yet over the past few
months, he has found him-
self at the center of Presi-
dent Trump’s impeachment
scandal. He earned the dis-
dain of professional diplo-
mats as a starstruck ama-
teur. During his deposition,
he said he didn’t know how
many of the 29 countries he
worked with received U.S.
aid, because those countries
also had specifi c ambassa-
dors assigned to them.
At times, he insisted he
was ignorant about key
aspects of the Trump con-
troversy. When
asked
whether he ever researched
Burisma, the Ukrainian
energy fi rm at the center of
the anti-corruption talks,
he said no. When asked if
he assigned the job to one
of his 150 staffers, he again
said no.
He testifi ed that he didn’t
know of the fi rm’s connec-
tion to Hunter Biden, who
sat on the Burisma board,
until after he had started to
set up a meeting between
Trump and Zelensky.
“I didn’t even know who
Hunter Biden was until I
started reading about him in
the media,” he said.
By the time he testi-
fi ed on Oct. 17, White
House adviser Fiona Hill
had recounted a conten-
tious meeting over Ukraine
that happened in July, long
before Sondland claims to
have known about any polit-
ical ties to the anti-corrup-
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, November 9 • 1-3 pm
90569 Par Rd., Warrenton
Beautifully updated
custom home in
Country Club Estates,
midway between
Astoria and Seaside,
adjacent to the Astoria
Golf and Country Club
and west of Cullaby
Lake County Park. The
home offers a spacious
living room, fireplace,
open kitchen and
dining, perfect for entertaining,
four bedrooms and three baths,
private space for visiting guests,
bonus space, loads of storage
and workshop area. Large view
deck, new roof, lovely garden
area and so much more. Two
tax lots totaling .64 acres.
Don’t miss this exceptional
opportunity! Closing must be
12/22/19 or later.
SAVE
ON
ALMOST
THE
ENTIRE
STORE
%
25
%
Additional 25 OFF Clearance
tion statement in Ukraine.
Sondland contradicted
Hill’s account, describing
the meeting as great. He
said he called Rick Perry,
then the energy secretary,
the day before he testifi ed
to ensure his memory of
events was correct.
“And did you think it
was appropriate to call Sec-
retary Perry, who’s obvi-
ously another potential wit-
ness, the day before your
testimony to, quote, ‘refresh
your recollection,’?” he was
asked.
“I didn’t think it was
inappropriate,” he said.
Sondland insisted to
lawmakers that through-
out the summer, diplomatic
conversations focused on
“vanilla corruption,” and
he did not become aware
that Trump’s political rivals
may be a target of the cor-
ruption investigation for
months.
“It kept getting more
insidious as timeline went
on,” he said, “and back in
July, it was all about just
corruption.”
‘I don’t recall.’
Call Hardworking Professional...
D eb b owe
Broker
Cell: 503-440-7474
Office: 503-325-5111
(503)325-5720 • 1-800-851-FINN
1116 Commercial • Astoria OR
Windermere Community Realty
175 14th Street, Suite 120, Astoria, OR
www.windermere.com