Protesters chanted ‘tell the truth’ at Sondland hotel. Now he says Trump wanted ‘quid pro quo’

Gordon Sondland, the Seattle hotelier and U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told lawmakers Wednesday that he believed President Donald Trump wanted a “quid pro quo” from Ukraine before he’d agree to meet with the country’s president and release promised military assistance.

“Was there a ‘quid pro quo’? ... The answer is yes,” Sondland said.

Sondland’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry marked a turn in tone and substance from his previous appearances before closed-door hearings, where he said he “never” thought Trump’s administration had a precondition on releasing nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Sondland said he worked with Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to press Ukraine for to announce an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Biden’s son “at the express direction of the president.”

Sondland further said senior members of the Trump administration were well aware of the effort to pressure Ukraine.

“Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret,” he said.

Sondland has faced increasing public pressure over his initial testimony as other impeachment witnesses pointed to him as a key figure in pushing Ukraine officials for a public investigation into the Bidens. Trump appointed Sondland to his foreign post after Sondland donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Sondland has also faced protests at his hotels — he has 44 businesses in Washington, Oregon and Delaware. Sondland is the founder of Provenance Hotels, which includes the Hotel Murano in Tacoma among properties in its portfolio.

On Tuesday night, protesters gathered outside one of his hotels in downtown Portland, according to KATU.

“Gordon Sondland tell the truth!” the protesters chanted.

Protesters also confronted him at the Portland International Airport in early November, with similar demands.

Sondland had said at the time that he had not changed his testimony, even though he had amended his testimony to say he had believed there was a quid pro quo situation with Ukraine — that if Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced an investigation into the Bidens that taxpayer-funded military aid to the country would be released.

That directly contradicted Sondland’s testimony before the committee in October.

Sondland acknowledged Wednesday morning that his testimony would be different from his previous appearance at the Intelligence Committee. He blamed the State Department for not giving him access to his phone and email records.

“In the absence of these materials, my memory has not been perfect,” Sondland said. “And I have no doubt that a more fair, open, and orderly process of allowing me to read the State Department records would have made this process more transparent.”

Sondland also directly implicated Trump, saying Giuliani, was working on behalf of Trump’s wishes to investigate a theory that Ukraine meddled with the 2016 election to benefit Democrat Hillary Clinton.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered with the 2016 election, including obtaining Democratic National Committee emails. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into election interference led to indictments against 12 Russians who allegedly attempted to hack Democratic computers.

“Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election and DNC server and Burisma,” Sondland testified. “Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President.”

Sondland said Trump never explicitly said he had conditions for releasing aide or meeting with Zelensky, but that using “the logic that two plus two equals four,” Sondland figured the aid was contingent on the Biden investigation.

“We all understood that these prerequisites for the White House call and White House meeting reflected President Trump’s desires and requirements,” Sondland said.

Sondland also testified that he was not disputing testimony by David Holmes, counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. Holmes’ testimony was that Sondland was on a phone call with Trump at a restaurant in Kiev on July 26 when Trump asked if Zelensky would do the investigations, and Sondland indicated that Zelensky would.

“For the most part, I have no reason to doubt their accounts,” Sondland said.

Democrats considered Sondland’s testimony to be helpful to their argument that Trump misused his power for political gain.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, tweeted “Gordon Sondland, welcome to the resistance,” during Sondland’s testimony.

Previously, Blumenauer had called for a boycott of Sondland’s hotels. The resistance is a reference to a group of people protesting Trump’s presidency.

Blumenauer wasn’t the only Democrat who became more friendly to Sondland following his testimony.

Rep. Denny Heck, D-Washington, complimented Sondland, calling him “an American success story.” One of Sondland’s hotels that Blumenauer called to boycott is in Washington.

“Through dint of hard work, innovation, good idea, the knack to hire the right people and some luck, you’ve built a considerable, successful business,” Heck said.

Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, made the case that Blumenauer, by previously calling for boycotts of Sondland’s hotels, was “bullying” and intimidating Sondland, as a witness, “to force you into doing something that you didn’t want to do.”

“I hope my colleagues on the other side will join me in saying Mr. Blumenauer, you really shouldn’t be using your congressional influence to try to bully and threaten a witness before these proceedings,” Conaway said. “It’s just wrong.”

Sondland’s latest testimony matches up more closely with the testimony of other officials, who have frequently pointed to Sondland as working on an unofficial channel of working with Ukraine with Giuliani, who witnesses have said was pushing for the Biden investigation.

“I believe he was looking to dig up political dirt against a potential rival in the next election cycle,” George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said last week.

This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 9:10 AM.