Trump’s new anti-impeachment crusader mangles basic facts about Sondland in her first big TV interview

Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who recently joined the White House as a communications staffer, repeatedly misrepresented EU ambassador Gordon Sondland's role in the State Department.

The Florida Republican appeared Wednesday on CBS This Morning ahead of Sondland's highly anticipated public testimony in the impeachment inquiry, and she was asked how well President Donald Trump knew the campaign donor-turned-ambassador.

"He was ambassador to the Ukraine, he is ambassador to the Ukraine, and the president knows him," said Bondi, who recently joined the White House to help manage communications strategy against impeachment.

Sondland serves as the top U.S. diplomat to the European Union, which Ukraine is not a part of, and some witnesses have questioned why he was involved in discussions with the country about military aid and an investigation of Joe Biden.

"The president does not know him very well," Bondi continued. "He's a short-term ambassador. Of course, he knows him -- he's the ambassador. But you know, let's go back to the two witnesses that you talked about, (Lt. Col.) Alexander Vindman and (Jennifer) Williams. What did they say based on the transcript that, by the way, other people have heard the transcript, read the transcript is very important. The transcript speaks for itself."