The crucial impeachment probe witness and U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, said Friday that he had been recalled to the United States effective immediately.
He joins the National Security Council’s Europe Director, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who also lost his job Friday after testifying in the impeachment probe last year.
“I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States Ambassador to the European Union,” Sondland said in a statement.
The ousters of Sondland and Vindman followed reports that Trump was looking to get rid of administration officials who testified in the House impeachment probe into his pressure campaign on Ukraine, in which he squeezed the country for political dirt on his political rivals.
Sondland’s testimony, like Vindman’s, provided crucial details to Democrats as they sought to piece together Trump’s use of his official position to advance his re-election campaign.
