戈登·桑德兰大使周三直接暗示唐纳德·特朗普总统与一项“交换”协议有关，该协议将访问白宫作为乌克兰总统对其政治对手展开调查的交换条件。
“我知道这个委员会的成员经常用一个简单的问题来描述这些复杂的问题:‘有‘交换条件’吗？"桑德拉作证说。"关于要求的白宫电话和白宫会议，答案是肯定的。"
桑德拉补充道:“我们听从了总统的命令。”
这位大使周三早上出现在众议院情报委员会面前，在众议院民主党弹劾调查的中心公开作证他对乌克兰争议的了解。
弹劾调查于9月底启动，当时有报道称特朗普试图向乌克兰总统沃洛迪米尔·泽兰斯基施压，要求他调查前副总统乔·拜登和他的儿子亨特涉嫌的腐败商业交易。据报道，总统还暂时扣留了近4亿美元对国家的军事援助，以便让泽伦斯基宣布调查结果。
大使还与众议院小组分享了电子邮件，这些邮件将显示，从2019年5月到9月军事援助发布，国务院、国家安全委员会和白宫的领导层都了解到乌克兰的努力。
“他们知道我们在做什么，为什么，”桑德拉告诉立法者。“每个人都在循环中。这不是秘密。”
桑德拉是最受期待的证人之一，她将作为调查的一部分出庭作证。这位大使是帮助特朗普领导乌克兰议程的所谓“三个朋友”之一，还有前美国乌克兰问题特使库尔特·沃尔克和能源部长里克·佩里。
在上个月的闭门作证中，桑德拉说，总统指示他与特朗普的私人律师鲁迪·朱利安尼就乌克兰政策进行合作。起初，他说他不知道特朗普和泽兰斯基之间有任何军事援助的“交换”安排。
但他后来修改了最初的证词，承认他通知乌克兰一名高级官员，数百万美元的美国军事援助将被冻结，“直到乌克兰提供我们一直在讨论的公开反腐败声明。”
美国驻欧盟大使戈登·桑德兰(Gordon Sondland)于2019年11月20日在华盛顿特区国会山朗沃斯众议院办公楼等待众议院情报委员会作证。该委员会在针对唐纳德·特朗普总统的弹劾调查的公开听证会的第四天听取了证词。众议院民主党人表示，特朗普在要求乌克兰调查其政治对手的同时，阻止了美国对乌克兰的军事援助
他的新声明补充了其他国家安全官员提供的证词，这些证词详述了特朗普和朱利安尼将军事援助与乌克兰调查联系起来的努力，这些调查将在政治上帮助总统。
大使在补充证词中补充说，“我一直认为暂停对乌克兰的援助是不明智的，尽管我不知道(现在仍然不知道)援助何时、为何或由谁暂停。”
桑德拉是一名长期的共和党捐赠者和富商，在2017年加入特朗普政府之前，她没有外交经验。在为特朗普2016年的竞选捐款后，总统任命桑德兰为驻欧盟大使——一个不包括乌克兰在内的国家集团。
特朗普在10月份出庭作证之前，最初称桑德拉是“一个真正的好人和伟大的美国人”。然后，在桑德兰修改了他的证词以包括对乌克兰封锁援助的关键信息后，特朗普告诉记者，“我几乎不认识这位先生。”
GORDON SONDLAND CONFIRMS 'QUID PRO QUO' IN UKRAINE DEALINGS: 'THE ANSWER IS YES'
Ambassador Gordon Sondland directly implicated President Donald Trump Wednesday in a "quid pro quo" agreement linking a White House visit in exchange for Ukraine's president launching investigations into his political opponents.
"I know that members of this committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: 'Was there a 'quid pro quo?'" Sondland testified. "With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes."
Sondland added: "We followed the president's orders."
The ambassador appeared before the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday morning to publicly testify on his knowledge of the Ukraine controversy at the center of the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry.
The impeachment probe was launched in late September amid reports that Trump attempted to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter over what Trump alleged were corrupt business deals. The president also reportedly temporarily withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to the nation in order to get Zelenskiy to announce the inquiries.
The ambassador also shared emails with the House panel that will show that the leadership in the State Department, the National Security Council and the White House were all informed about the Ukraine efforts from May 2019 until the military aid was released in September.
"They knew what we were doing and why," Sondland told lawmakers. "Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret."
Sondland is one of the most highly anticipated witnesses to testify as part of the inquiry. The ambassador is one of the so-called "three amigos" who helped lead Trump's Ukraine agenda, along with former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
During his closed-door deposition last month, Sondland said he was directed by the president to work together with Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, on Ukraine policy. At first, he said he was not aware of any "quid pro quo" arrangement between Trump and Zelenskiy for military assistance.
But he later amended his initial testimony to acknowledge that he informed a top Ukrainian official that millions in U.S. military aid would be blocked "until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing."
Gordon Sondland, the U.S ambassador to the European Union, waits to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill November 20, 2019, in Washington, D.C. The committee heard testimony during the fourth day of open hearings in the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, whom House Democrats say held back U.S. military aid for Ukraine while demanding the nation investigate his political rivals.
His new statement added to the testimonies provided by other national security officials that detailed the efforts by Trump and Giuliani to link the military assistance to the Ukraine investigations that would politically aid the president.
The ambassador added in his supplemental testimony that "I always believed that suspending aid to Ukraine was ill-advised, although I did not know (and still do not know) when, why, or by whom the aid was suspended."
Sondland, a longtime Republican donor and wealthy businessman, had no diplomatic experience before joining the Trump administration in 2017. After he donated to Trump's 2016 campaign, the president appointed Sondland to be the ambassador to the European Union — a group of nations that does not include Ukraine.
Trump had initially referred to Sondland as "a really good man and great American" before he emerged as a witness in October. Then, after Sondland revised his testimony to include key information about the blocked aid to Ukraine, Trump told reporters that "I hardly know the gentleman."
