May 24, 2021 11:04 a.m.
Gordon Sondland, the former U.S. ambassador to the EU, is suing former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the government in a bid to have one of the two pay for $1.8 million in legal fees incurred during the 2019 Ukraine impeachment inquiry.
The Washington Post first reported the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C.
When the impeachment inquiry began in September 2019, Sondland alleged, he met with Pompeo and received an assurance: while government lawyers would not represent him in the inquiry, the State Department would reimburse Sondland for all of his legal costs relating to the impeachment.
sondland ended up not being what trump and pompeo thought he would be. do we know if pompeo promised to pay for any of the other impeachment witnesses legal fees? i ve never seen anything along the lines of this accusation that came up. and i do not i have not seen this issue either come up before much either where the federal government is paying for an individual s legal fees. look, sondland had very high-end representation. he was represented by bob luskin, a long-time, well-established washington lawyer who did a lot of work for him to make sure that sondland s 17 hours or so of testimony, that he testified as well as he could, but at the end of the day, $1.8 million is very, very expensive for an individual s legal fees, and if every person in the federal government that needed a lawyer had a bill like that, the government would be on the hook for a lot of expensive legal fees.
bob luskin. he s a friend, and i think highly of him. i think at this point, sondland has no real choice but to testify. i don t think he has a fifth amendment claim about self-incrimination. he has not done anything that is criminal here. he s carried out the personal political agenda of the president of the united states. and i think if he doesn t testify, history will hold him in contempt, and potentially congress will hold him in contempt and move to the u.s. attorney s office to compel his testimony. i think he wants to be forthright and take it on the chin, if he has to, from the president. we did see the president disparage a witness during live testimony today. you can imagine if there s some pressure behind the scenes on
dwoet, we can confirm that the christie for governor re-election campaign and the new jersey republican state committee received subpoenas for documents from the u.s. attorney s office, in addition to the subpoena that campaign previously received from the state legislative committee. that statement was released today from the general council for the new jersey republican party that christie re-election campaign has hired him to help them in this matter. 96, though, they ve also hired bob luskin probably the most famous for representing carl rove when carl rove was accused of purposely leaking if identity of an under cover cia officer valerie blame wilson and representing lance armstrong when he was denying that he took performance enhancing drugs. so that s who is representing the party and chris christie s re-election campaign in this inquiry now as they confirm they ve received federal grand jury subpoenas. but that s not all. at least the new york times is
quote, we can confirm that the christie for governor re-election campaign and the new jersey republican state committee received subpoenas for documents from the u.s. attorney s office, in addition to the subpoena that campaign previously received from the state legislative committee. that statement was released today from the general council for the new jersey republican party that christie re-election campaign has hired him to help them in this matter. 96, though, they ve also hired bob luskin probably the most famous for representing carl rove when carl rove was accused of purposely leaking if identity of an undercover cia officer valerie blame wilson and representing lance armstrong when he was denying that he took performance enhancing drugs. so that s who is representing the party and chris christie s re-election campaign in this inquiry now as they confirm they ve received federal grand jury subpoenas. but that s not all. at least the new york times is