A key witness in the 2019 impeachment inquiry of then-President Donald Trump, Gordon Sondland, officially became a foreign agent representing Ukraine and the European Union (E.U.) by filing a registration statement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sondland, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. from 2018 to 2020, testified against Trump in 2019 before the House Intelligence Committee, alleging that Trump had pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son in exchange for military aid.
Sondland’s registration as a foreign agent is mandated by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which regulates lobbying activities on behalf of foreign entities.
“Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’ As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes,” Sondland told the committee on Nov. 20, 2019, during a high-profile hearing that garnered international attention. “Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret.”
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for the 2024 election, was impeached by the House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 2019. However, he was acquitted by the Senate on Feb. 5, 2020. Following this, he promptly removed Sondland from his ambassadorial role.
During his tenure in government, Sondland engaged directly with senior Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Since 2022, Ukraine has been actively reaching out to members of Congress and executive branch officials to garner support for their conflict with Russia.
In a conversation with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Sondland justified his decision to register as a foreign agent by citing the broad scope of FARA regulations which he found excessive.
“This term ‘Foreign Agent.’ It sounds very sinister because that’s the way the FARA laws are written. You’re designated as a foreign agent. I’m not an agent of anyone. I haven’t been asked by Ukraine or the E.U. to represent them. I’m simply having conversations that everyone has all the time with members of Congress and with members of governments of other countries to try and bridge and divide,” Sondland told the DCNF. “The problem is the FARA laws require this registration and you become known as a ‘foreign agent,’ and that’s very different than someone who is hired by the E.U. or hired by Ukraine and paid to do a certain job on their behalf. I am not doing either.”
“My allegiance is still 100% to the United States, not to the European Union. Unfortunately, I can’t have these conversations without registering,” Sondland noted.
