The United States ambassador to the European Union has been accused by three women of sexual misconduct.
The three women said that Gordon Sondland retaliated against them professionally after they rejected his alleged sexual advances, the Portland Monthly, in conjunction with the non-profit investigative newsroom Pro-Publica,. The incidents occurred between 2003 and 2010.
Sondland last week provided key testimony in the impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump.
Sondland denies the women’s allegations. His lawyer told the publication that they are trying to ruin his credibility in the impeachment inquiry. He also noted that the business proposal by each of the women was turned down by Sondland, indicating that might be the source of their allegations.
“In decades of my career in business and civic affairs, my conduct can be affirmed by hundreds of employees and colleagues with whom I have worked in countless circumstances,” Sondland said in a statement. “These untrue claims of unwanted touching and kissing are concocted and, I believe, coordinated for political purposes. They have no basis in fact, and I categorically deny them.”
All of the women are named in the article. Nicole Vogel, owner of the Portland Monthly, involved Pro-Public so that it would investigate her claims independently and was not involved in any editorial decisions regarding the article.
Sondland donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and was afterward named ambassador to the European Union.
In his initial impeachment testimony in October Sondland affirmed Trump’s assertion that there was no quid pro quo involving U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Earlier this month he changed his testimony to say that he was following the president’s orders in demanding that Ukraine investigate political rival Joe Biden before he would agree to a White House summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.