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Sondland Insists 'Everyone Was in the Loop' on Ukraine

Masood Farivar

   WASHINGTON - As Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union,
   recounted in riveting testimony in the House of Representatives
   impeachment hearings Wednesday, "Everyone was in the loop."

   The legion of top U.S. officials well aware of President Donald Trump's
   efforts this summer to get Ukraine to carry out investigations that
   would help Trump politically ranged from Vice President Mike Pence and
   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to acting White House chief of staff
   Mick Mulvaney, then-national security adviser John Bolton and State
   Department counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl, Sondland testified.

   "We kept the leadership of the State Department and the [National
   Security Council]informed of our activities," Sondland said in his
   opening statement. "They knew what we were doing and why."

   Sondland's testimony tying senior officials to a pressure campaign at
   the center of the impeachment inquiry into Trump triggered a prompt
   pushback.

   In a statement, Pence's office said the vice president "never had a
   conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens,
   Burisma or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based
   upon potential investigations."

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