Former US Ambassador to the European Union (EU) Gordon Sondland is suing his former boss, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Department of State for not paying his legal fees after he testified against President Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial, according to legal documents filed on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2021) Former US Ambassador to the European Union (EU) Gordon Sondland is suing his former boss, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Department of State for not paying his legal fees after he testified against President Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial, according to legal documents filed on Monday.
"Plaintiff Gordon D. Sondland ...respectfully files this Complaint against Defendant Michael R. Pompeo in his personal and individual capacity for intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of warranty of authority and, in the alternative, against Defendant the United States of America," the lawsuit filed in US district court in Washington, DC said.
Sondland is seeking $1.8 million in damages claiming he was led to believe that Pompeo had the legal authority to bind the US government to reimburse him for his legal fees when testifying against Trump under congressional subpoenas.
In his lawsuit, Sondland accused Pompeo of not following through on a promise that the department would cover his legal fees.
Pompeo assured Sondland that the State Department would reimburse him for all of his legal costs and through the fall of 2019, Pompeo and his staff repeated that commitment, the former diplomat claimed.
In February 2020, Trump fired Sondland, following the ambassador's testimony against him at the Senate impeachment trial in November 2019 claiming that US aid to Ukraine was tied to Kiev's commitment to conduct investigations of the president's political rivals. According to Sondland, he was pressured by the White House and State Department not to testify.
