Hours after news broke that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman had been fired from his White House post, United States Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has been relieved of his duties, per a CNN report.
Like Vindman, Sondland testified in the House's impeachment inquiry, and was a key witness for House Democrats in their attempt to prove that President Donald Trump had requested an investigation into the Biden family in exchange for U.S. military aid to Ukraine and a presidential visit to the White House.
Sondland was a major contributor to the Trump campaign, donating nearly $1 million through Sondland's businesses to the Trump inauguration.
Sondland became the United States' ambassador to the EU in July 2018.
It was in July that Trump made the disputed phone call to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. While Trump called the phone call "perfect," Vindman declared the phone call "improper."
When Sondland testified before Congress in November, he said that Trump pressed for a quid pro quo through his attorney, and former NYC Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani.
"Mr. Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelenskiy. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing the investigations of the 2016 election, DNC server and Burisma," Sondland said during his testiony. "Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew these investigations were important to the president."
