WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump's ambassador to the European Union testified on Wednesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was "in the loop" throughout a monthslong effort by the president to pressure Ukraine to open political investigations into Democrats, directly implicating the secretary in the expanding scandal for the first time.
Speaking before the House Intelligence Committee in its impeachment inquiry, Gordon Sondland, a lifelong Republican, told lawmakers that he worked at the "express direction" of Trump to facilitate a quid pro quo with Ukraine _ conditioning a White House meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and possibly the release of lethal military assistance on Kyiv's public announcement of investigations _ with Pompeo's knowledge.
The ambassador shared texts and emails with the committee that showed direct communication with Pompeo and his top aides approving of the exchange and encouraging him to work with Rudolph Giuliani, the president's personal attorney not employed by the U.S. government.
According to Sondland's testimony, Giuliani successfully urged Trump to condition support for Ukraine on two investigations: one of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, where former Vice President Joe Biden's son sat on the board, and one into conspiracy theories that Ukrainian individuals worked against the Trump campaign in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
"We kept the leadership of the State Department and the (National Security Council) informed of our activities. That included communications with Secretary of State Pompeo, his counselor Ulrich Brechbuehl, and Executive Secretary Lisa Kenna within the State Department," Sondland said in his opening statement. "Even as late as September 24, Secretary Pompeo was directing (U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine) Kurt Volker to speak with Rudy Giuliani."
Pompeo, who was in Brussels Wednesday, brushed off a question from reporters about the allegation that he had directed Sondland to coordinate with Giuliani.
"I didn't see a single thing today," Pompeo said. "I was working. It sounds like you might not have been. I was in meetings all day and haven't had a chance to see any of that testimony."
But hours later, Pompeo's spokeswoman issued a statement pushing back on the contents of Sondland's testimony.
"Gordon Sondland never told Secretary Pompeo that he believed the president was linking aid to investigations of political opponents. Any suggestion to the contrary is flat out false," said Morgan Ortagus, a spokeswoman for the State Department.
Sondland said that Pompeo was "aware" that Trump had conditioned meeting Zelenskiy at the White House, and potentially releasing $391 million in security assistance appropriated by Congress, to Ukraine opening the investigations. The secretary raised no objections to the linkage, he said.
That exchange is at the heart of the House impeachment inquiry into Trump, which has centered on a July 25 phone call between the two presidents in which Trump requested Zelenskiy open an investigation into the 2016 election and Biden, a leading candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
On July 19, Sondland emailed Pompeo and other senior administration officials about his effort to set the stage for that call, according to his testimony.
"I talked to Zelenskiy just now," Sondland wrote. "He is prepared to receive (President Trump)'s call. Will assure him that he intends to run a fully transparent investigation and will 'turn over every stone'. He would greatly appreciate a call prior to Sunday so that he can put out some media about a 'friendly and productive call' (no details) prior to Ukraine election on Sunday."
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney responded: "I asked NSC to set it up for tomorrow."
Later in the summer, on Aug. 22, Sondland again emailed the secretary about a broad "logjam" on Ukraine policy, including the hold on military assistance.
"Pompeo essentially gave me the green light to brief President Zelenskiy about making those announcements," Sondland told the lawmakers.
Pompeo initially did not disclose his participation in the July phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry and he's been careful in his public statements as the House investigation moves forward.
On Monday, Pompeo repeatedly declined to answer questions related to the inquiry when talking to reporters.
"There are things I would dearly love to say about it, but I don't intend to," he said.
Sondland's testimony implicating Pompeo comes at a time when national Republicans are still working on getting the former Wichita congressman to run in next year's open seat Senate race in Kansas.
Republican senators largely ignored Sondland's testimony and were reluctant to comment on its ramifications. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., compared the House hearings to a bad reality television show, which would soon be canceled.
Sen. Pat Roberts, the retiring Kansas Republican whose seat Pompeo could pursue next year, also said he did not watch the testimony.
"I'm trying to get my work done here. I don't know what has happened on the House side," said Roberts, a former Senate Intelligence chairman who was close with Pompeo during his time in Congress.
"I trust Pompeo," Roberts replied when told the details of Sondland's testimony regarding his fellow Kansas Republican.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat who served with Pompeo in the House, said Pompeo was severely damaged by the testimony.
"Nobody should be thrilled to see someone get in trouble that they know. I think the secretary's in trouble," Cleaver said. "It's one of these situations where it's like the snowball rolling down the hill. I think there's going to be a lot of people picked up as the ball rolls. I didn't think until today the secretary was going to be one of them."
Other Democrats called Sondland's allegations about Pompeo's involvement concerning but unsurprising.
"It's totally logical that Mike Pompeo would have known about all this," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters. "It never made any sense that the secretary of State didn't know there was a highly-coordinated scheme involving some of his chief diplomats in Europe to advance the president's political interests.
"What's concerning," Murphy continued, "is Pompeo is continuing to stand in the way of the truth coming out. Pompeo knows what the truth is. The president and he worked together to try to corrupt a foreign power into getting involved in American politics and the fact that he's not letting Sondland see any State Department materials, and they're all trying to pressure their subordinates not to testify, is absolutely damning."
At one point, Sondland read from his emails with Pompeo to demonstrate that the secretary was supportive of the engagement with Ukraine.
"All good. You're doing great work. Keep banging away," Sondland quoted from one of Pompeo's emails.
