November 20, 2019

Gordon Sondland’s Testimony Could Lead to Yet Another Article of Impeachment

Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, may have given Democrats fodder for an additional article of impeachment against President Donald Trump.Drew Angerer/Getty

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Before even opening his mouth Wednesday, Gordon Sondland gave Democrats even more evidence that the White House and State Department are obstructing Congress’ impeachment inquiry. 

Sondland has repeatedly changed or added to his version of events, recalling new information that is damaging to Trump. Sondland is now suggesting that interference from the Trump administration is at least partly to blame for omissions in his earlier testimony.

“I have not had access to all of my phone records, State Department emails, and other State Department documents,” Sondland said, per his prepared opening statement. “And I was told I could not work with my EU Staff to pull together the relevant files.”

The White House had previously stated that it would not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, but Sondland’s statement sheds new light on the efforts administration officials took internally to hinder witnesses who agreed to testify. “My lawyers and I have made multiple requests to the State Department and the White House for these materials. Yet, these materials were not provided to me,” Sondland said. “These documents are not classified and, in fairness, should have been made available. In the absence of these materials, my memory has not been perfect.”

Sondland’s complaints about White House interference dovetail with a warning issued Wednesday by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the committee conducting the impeachment hearings. Schiff noted in his opening statement that one of the articles of impeachment prepared against President Richard Nixon detailed that administration’s refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas. As part of the White House’s refusal to cooperate with Schiff’s committee, the State Department has not made any documents available. 

Listen to Washington, DC Bureau Chief David Corn describe the outrageous partisan theatrics in the impeachment room, and the mounting evidence against Donald Trump, in the latest episode of the Mother Jones Podcast:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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