New York Magazine - USA (2019-11-25)

november 25–december 8, 2019 | new york 21

inside: A Cut poll / Texting with the mayor

whengordonsondlandtestifiedat theHouse impeach-
menthearingsonNovember20,having“refreshed” his memory
andrecalledseveralincriminatingfacts that hadescapedhim the
firsttimearound,theambassadorwasat painstoexplain that he
hadneversupportedtheschemeinwhichhehadparticipated.
“Weallunderstoodthat if werefusedtoworkwith Mr. Giuliani,
wewouldloseanimportantopportunitytocement relations
betweentheUnitedStatesandUkraine.So wefollowed the presi-
dent’sorders,”hesaid.“Atalltimes,I wasactingingood faith ... We
hadnodesiretoset any conditionsontheUkrainians. Indeed, my
ownpersonalview—whichI sharedrepeatedlywith others—was
that the White House [meeting] and security assistance should
have proceeded without preconditions of any kind. We were work-
ing to overcome the problems, given the facts as they existed.”
Sondland’s definition of “acting on good faith” meant following
PHOTOGRAPH: orders, even orders he found morally troubling. Here, he was

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The National Interest:

Jo nathanChait

The11th-Hour

Idealist

Gordon Sondland

is an equal-

opportunity f lunky.