Although President Donald Trump has been forcefully railing against the impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives and is encouraging potential witnesses to defy subpoenas, plenty of witnesses have testified anyway — including Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union (EU). Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, has grown critical of Sondland’s testimony and is alleging that the ambassador committed perjury.
Monday on Twitter, the Texas Democrat posted, “Based on all the testimony so far, I believe that Ambassador Gordon Sondland committed perjury.”
In his opening deposition, Sondland stated, “Nothing was ever raised to me about any concerns regarding our Ukrainian policy.” But according to Vindman, Sondland talked to people in Ukraine about “delivering specific investigations” of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. And Vindman said he told Sondland that such statements were “inappropriate.”
Based on all the testimony so far, I believe that Ambassador Gordon Sondland committed perjury. https://t.co/lOGRj8s1yP
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) October 29, 2019
Joaquin Castro is the 45-year-old twin brother of Julián Castro, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and served as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President Barack Obama. Before that, Julián Castro was mayor of San Antonio, and he resigned from that position in 2014 in order to work in the Obama Administration.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came out in favor of an impeachment inquiry against Trump after learning that the president, during a July 25 phone conversation, tried to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating the Bidens. House Democrats plan to hold a formal vote on impeachment this Thursday, October 31.
