Sondland is the son of German Jews who escaped the Holocaust and eventually settled in the Pacific Northwest. He’s a diehard conservative who once gifted his wife a signed copy of Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged."
He made a fortune in the hotel industry and has been a major GOP donor for decades. But the extent of his actual governmental experience had been limited to work on an Oregon state board that sought to bring television and movie production to the state, plus a spot on the ceremonial Commission on White House Fellows during George W. Bush’s presidency.
He backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 GOP primary, donating more than $20,000 to a pro-Bush superPAC. He came around once Trump was the de facto nominee, with plans to chair a fundraiser. But then he pulled out when Trump attacked the family of Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier who’d died in the line of duty.
A Sondland spokeswoman said at the time that Sondland and his business partner, Bashar Wali, were done with Trump.
“Mr. Sondland is a first-generation American whose parents were forced to flee Germany during the years leading up to World War II because they were persecuted for their faith, and Mr. Wali is a Muslim-American who emigrated to this country from Syria,” Provenance Hotels spokeswoman Kate Buska told Willamette Week. “In light of Mr. Trump's treatment of the Khan family and the fact his constantly evolving positions diverge from their personal beliefs and values on so many levels, neither Mr. Sondland or Mr. Wali can support his candidacy.”
... only, not really
But for Sondland, those values were apparently malleable. After Trump’s victory, Sondland gave a combined $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee through four limited liability corporations, as first reported by the Center for Responsive Politics.
That put him back in the president’s good graces. Early last year, Trump nominated him to be EU ambassador.
Sondland has talked up how close he is to the president. During that Ukrainian TV interview, he said he’d talked to Trump before sitting down with Ukraine’s president. But he may end up regretting his newfound role in Trump’s inner circle.
Sondland would certainly have been asked about that interview, which came the day after Trump’s now-famous call with Ukraine’s president. “We want to make sure that all of the reforms are on track,” he said, an apparent reference to Trump’s push to get Ukraine to investigate debunked theories that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election — and perhaps Biden.
Investigators surely also have questions about Sondland’s text messages, which reveal his efforts to help Trump secure the Ukraine government’s cooperation. The president has publicly called for Ukraine to investigate Biden after doing so during his call with Zelensky in late July.
“I think POTUS really wants the deliverable,” Sondland texted Volker on Aug. 9. In the same conversation, he suggested asking to see a draft statement on what Ukraine’s president would say to ensure it matched what Trump was pushing for — an investigation into who was behind 2016.
Sondland sent that text disputing a quid pro quo AFTER calling Trump to consult him. He sent it about five hours after another diplomat texted him: “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” https://t.co/AcJm2PEx6Q https://t.co/0JZAhMcd48
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) October 8, 2019