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    Gordon Sondland, The Ambassador Whose Texts Put Him At The Center Of Ukraine Scandal

    Based on interviews with people who know Sondland, what emerges is a portrait of a man who was fixated on getting an ambassadorship in Europe — and was willing to do what it took to keep it.
    by Rachel Martin Oct 17, 2019 6 minutes
    U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on October 08, 2019 in Washington, DC. Jordan spoke on reports that the Trump administration has blocked the testimony of U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland in the House impeachment inquiry.

    As the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland has an important job, though it's not a position that makes someone a household name.

    So how has he become a crucial player in the controversy that could jeopardize the Trump presidency?

    What's elevated the businessman from Portland, Ore., into the public consciousness is something that wasn't an official part of his post. That role — an assignment that put him on the ground in Ukraine — is the reason he is testifying on Thursday morning as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump's effort to have political rival Joe Biden and his son investigated in Ukraine.

    In an interview on Ukrainian TV the day after Trump's now-infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Sondland was asked why he's been spending time in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

    "President Trump has not only honored me with the job of being the U.S. ambassador to

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