WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Gordon Sondland, the Trump administration\u2019s ambassador to the European Union and a pivotal witness in 2019 impeachment proceedings, sued former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday in an effort to recoup $1.8 million he racked up in legal expenses.<\/p>\n
Sondland alleges in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, that Pompeo had committed to reimburse his legal expenses after he was subpoenaed by House Democrats to testify in an impeachment case that accused then-President Donald Trump of withholding military aid from Ukraine while demanding an investigation into political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.<\/p>\n
Instead, Sondland says, Pompeo \u201creneged on his promise\u201d after learning the details of Sondland\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the contractual commitment of Pompeo having been abandoned apparently for political convenience, Ambassador Sondland turns to this Court to reimburse his attorneys\u2019 fees and costs and make him whole,\u201d Sondland\u2019s lawyer, Mark Barondess, wrote in his lawsuit.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Pompeo called the lawsuit \u201cludicrous\u201d and said Pompeo was \u201cconfident the court will see it the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In testimony that Sondland\u2019s lawsuit describes as \u201chighly fraught, highly charged and highly risky with tremendous consequences,\u201d he described for investigators how Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, explicitly sought a \u201cquid pro quo\u201d with Ukraine, leveraging an Oval Office visit for political investigations of Democrats.<\/p>\n
Trump was impeached by the House but acquitted in February 2020 by the Senate.<\/p>\n
Sondland was fired days after Trump\u2019s acquittal \u201csimply for telling the truth,\u201d according to the lawsuit. He says the unwillingness to cover his legal fees not only represented a breach of commitment and \u201cnormal convention\u201d but was also \u201cespecially problematic in this instance because the amount of preparation needed to comply with the subpoenas was staggering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmbassador Sondland retained a Washington, D.C. law firm well experienced in Congressional investigations that possessed the capacity to assist him, along with his long-time personal counsel, in preparation for his critically important testimony,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cAmbassador Sondland continued to rely on Pompeo\u2019s individual promise, on behalf of himself and the Government, in seeking outside counsel and incurred nearly $1.8 million in attorneys\u2019 fees and costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawsuit was first reported by The Washington Post.<\/p>\n
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