Sondland Backs Away From Trump and Giuliani in Impeachment Probe

The U.S. ambassador to the European Union arrived on Capitol Hill Thursday morning for closed-door testimony before House impeachment investigators. According to a copy of Gordon Sondland's prepared remarks, the ambassador appears to be distancing himself from President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

Sondland plans to tell lawmakers he was disappointed Trump directed him to work with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and he believes it's wrong to invite a foreign government to conduct investigations for the purpose of influencing U.S. elections. Sondland is the latest in a series of witnesses to be interviewed behind closed doors by lawmakers.

His appearance is especially anticipated since text messages and other witness testimony place him at the center of a foreign policy dialogue with Ukraine that officials feared circumvented normal channels and that is now at the center of the House impeachment inquiry of Trump.Part of that effort involved pushing Ukraine to commit to politically charged investigations sought by Trump, including into a gas company connected to the son of Democratic rival Joe Biden.

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