National Security Council had concerns about Gordon Sondland hosting foreign officials
EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland seems to be under a full attack with news the day before Thanksgiving.
After ProPublica revealed in a story that he had three women allege misconduct against him, the Daily Beast reported that the National Security Council had concerns about Sondland.
According to two people with information on the situation told the Beast that Sondland hosted meetings with Romanian officials without talking to the NSC.
"His increasingly close relationship with one of those officials, former deputy prime minister Ana Birchall, generated significant concerns within the NSC, according to those same sources," The Beast reported. Her husband, Martyn Birchall, held positions at international financial firms. Mrs. Birchall "has a history of opposing anti-corruption measures" in Romania and has supported officials who were convicted of corruption.
According to the sources, Sondland tried to get a meeting and a photo with former National Security Advisor John Bolton. When she arrived at the White House, however, no one knew about the meeting. The State Department then set up a meeting after the fact.
"NSC officials alerted their superiors after the incident, raising concerns not only about Sondland’s disregard for the interagency process but also his dispatching of a Romanian official with a checkered political past to the White House without proper sign-off," the report also said. "Birchall’s relationship with Sondland underscores yet another backchannel effort by the EU ambassador to carry out foreign diplomacy that circumvented key national security officials."
Sondland attempted to protect the president while testifying in the impeachment inquiry, but after other witnesses revealed additional information, Sondland was forced to "correct" his deposition. When he was called by Republicans to testify before the House Intelligence Committee he threw President Donald Trump under the bus in the first few minutes of his opening statement. Trump has been on the attack ever since.
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