Gordon Sondland, one of the central figures in the Ukraine affair, apparently will not testify for the time being before the US House of Representatives. The State Department has ordered that the diplomat not appear for a scheduled hearing before the committee, reported several US media, citing the solicitor of South Africa, Robert Luskin.
Sondland is US Ambassador to the European Union. He had agreed to volunteer in the Congress Chamber. On the grounds for the cancellation of the appointment by the Foreign Ministry Sondland's lawyer did not comment.
However, according to Luskin, Sondland wants to testify at a later date if possible. The ambassador hopes that the "Matters" mentioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which prevented a statement at the present time, "could soon be resolved".
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The short-term rejection of Sondland's testimony exacerbates the confrontation between the Trump administration and the opposition Democrats over the investigation into a potential impeachment trial of Trump. Over the past few days, the White House and the State Department have refused to release documents relating to the Ukraine affair to the Houses of Representatives committees under investigation.
US President Donald Trump is under intense pressure since it was revealed that he had urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj on a phone call on July 25 to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump then made no secret of his desire to investigate - but he rejected the accusation of pressure. There is no "quid pro quo", ie no clear demand for consideration.
Trump suspects the Biden without evidence to have been involved in corruption cases in Ukraine as in China. Most recently, Trump came under fire for publicly asking China to investigate.
