Transcript Reveals Ambassador Gordon Sondland Never Knew of Any ‘Quid Pro Quo’

Ambassador Gordon Sondland never had any firsthand knowledge of any “quid pro quo” involving U.S. military aid for Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine conducting investigations, according to his recently released closed-door testimony as part of the impeachment inquiry.

When he was asked by the Republican counsel, “To the best of your knowledge, do you know about any preconditions on the aid?” he responded, “No.”

“There were a lot of rumors swirling around as to why the aid had been held up, including they wanted a review, they wanted Europe to do more. There were all kinds of rumors,” he added.

He said he called the president on September 9, 2019, to find out what he wanted from Ukraine.

“He said: ‘I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I want Zelensky to do the right thing.’ And I said: ‘What does that mean?’ And he said: ‘I want him to do what he ran on.’ And that was the end of the conversation.”

Two days later, on September 11, 2019, the aid — which had been temporarily frozen — was released to Ukraine, without the Ukrainians having to do anything.

Sondland also testified: “I recall hearing multiple reasons why the aid was being held from various people. I never heard that it was being held specifically to investigate the Bidens. I never heard the word ‘Biden’ mentioned with aid.”

He also acknowledged that the aid was released, and Trump had a phone call and a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019 — without anything in exchange from Ukraine.

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