Nadene Goldfoot
While listening to the impeachment process of President Trump, Sondland's name kept coming up and I wondered about his position in all this. His words have been used with Trump's over and over again in this 3rd impeachment of a president of the USA.
To my surprise, he comes from a Jewish family in the state of Washington, our Oregon neighbor on Mercer Island. He and Trump have many interests in common, such as being Republicans, hotel owners and real estate. No wonder Trump had picked him for the needed position of Ambassador to the European Union.
He became a real-estate salesman after being a student at the U. of Washington but getting his BA in Education, not business. To do that, he had to study more to get his license. He didn't go into teaching, either. Instead, he went into the hotel business after 1985, when Sondland raised $7.8 million from friends and his wealthy brother-in-law and purchased the Roosevelt Hotel, a bankrupt Seattle hotel. He had been living in Seattle then. He's also a hotel magnate. "Sondland’s company, Provenance Hotels, owns and manages hotels throughout the United States, including the Hotel Max and Hotel Theodore in Seattle, Washington; Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington; Hotel deLuxe, Hotel Lucia, Sentinel Hotel, Dossier, and Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon; The Hotel Preston in Nashville, Tennessee; and Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery in New Orleans, Louisiana. Yes, he does have a lot in
common with President Trump: real estate, hotels and money.
"In 2013, Sondland and Provenance completed a renovation of Portland's historic Governor Hotel, renaming it Sentinel at Address: 614 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205." I hadn't heard of that hotel. "In December 2015, Sondland and Provenance announced the establishment of the company's first real estate investment fund, Provenance Hotel Partners Fund I. The $525 million fund was created specifically for hotel real estate investment and, at the time of its announcement, was the fourth largest fund ever launched in the state of Oregon. Following his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union by President Trump, Sondland's name was removed from the Provenance Hotels' website and replaced with that of his wife, who is now listed as the chairman.
How Sondland got into politics has to do with Oregon, which is of great interest to me. "Sondland also served as Oregon liaison to the White House. As an advisor to Kulongoski, Sondland suggested appointing Ted Wheeler as state treasurer, which Kulongoski did in 2010. In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Sondland as a member of the Commission on White House Fellows. Sondland collaborated with President Bush and Jay Leno on an annual charitable auction of an autographed vehicle, with proceeds benefitting the Fisher House Foundation and the George W. Bush Foundation’s Military Service Initiative. He was a bundler for Mitt Romney's 2012 Presidential campaign, and in 2012,
Sondland was selected to serve as a member of Mitt Romney's presidential transition team."
As of March 2018, "Ambassador, Sondland said that strengthening US-EU trade relations is a top priority. He has supported using a strong US-EU economic partnership to counter what he has called "economic aggression and unfair trade practices" from China. In pursuit of this end, Sondland has promoted the idea of giving European governments access to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to allow them to better screen investors.
A negative report comes from the Washington Post about Sondland.
"The Washington Post writes that Sondland gained a reputation for "being indiscreet" and that officials "chastised [him] for using his personal phone for state business." He habitually traveled to Romania, Israel and other countries without coordinating his meetings with other officials. It was noted that he seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in Washington. A former White house official commented, “He always seemed to be in D.C. People would say, ‘Does he spend any time in Brussels?’ ” The Post writes, "Sondland’s approach to the job was seen more as a source of irritation than trouble until May [2019], when he moved to stake his claim to the U.S.-Ukraine relationship."
In his public testimony on November 20, Sondland said it was at the "express direction of the president" that he, Kurt Volker, and Rick Perry, commonly referred to as "the three amigos, he " worked with Giuliani on Ukraine matters even though they were uncomfortable with Giuliani's role. He said that the leadership of the State Department and the National Security Council, including Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, were fully informed of their activities and Giuliani's, adding "Everyone was in the loop."
Soderland has not resigned his position as Ambassador. He is financially well off with a Lear Jet. An art collection worth as much as $25 million. And assets from his boutique hotel empire and other investments that could be worth well over $100 million. He is willing to testify in the impeachment.
Update: 6:34pm 1/23/2020
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Sondland
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/kurt-volker-impeachment-hearing-ukraine-biden.html
https://www.opb.org/news/article/gordon-sondland-wealth-jet-art-house/
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| Gordon David Sondland, Ambassador to European Union position started July 9, 2018 born July 16, 1957 in Mercer Island, Washington-62 years old |
While listening to the impeachment process of President Trump, Sondland's name kept coming up and I wondered about his position in all this. His words have been used with Trump's over and over again in this 3rd impeachment of a president of the USA.
To my surprise, he comes from a Jewish family in the state of Washington, our Oregon neighbor on Mercer Island. He and Trump have many interests in common, such as being Republicans, hotel owners and real estate. No wonder Trump had picked him for the needed position of Ambassador to the European Union.
He became a real-estate salesman after being a student at the U. of Washington but getting his BA in Education, not business. To do that, he had to study more to get his license. He didn't go into teaching, either. Instead, he went into the hotel business after 1985, when Sondland raised $7.8 million from friends and his wealthy brother-in-law and purchased the Roosevelt Hotel, a bankrupt Seattle hotel. He had been living in Seattle then. He's also a hotel magnate. "Sondland’s company, Provenance Hotels, owns and manages hotels throughout the United States, including the Hotel Max and Hotel Theodore in Seattle, Washington; Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington; Hotel deLuxe, Hotel Lucia, Sentinel Hotel, Dossier, and Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon; The Hotel Preston in Nashville, Tennessee; and Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery in New Orleans, Louisiana. Yes, he does have a lot in
common with President Trump: real estate, hotels and money.
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| Heathman Hotel The Heathman Hotel, in Portland, Oregon, United States, was originally built as the New Heathman Hotel and opened in 1927. It is among the last remaining historical Portland hotels such as the Benson Hotel (opened 1912), Imperial Hotel (built 1894), and Governor Hotel (built in 1909 as the Seward Hotel and now the Sentinel Hotel). The Heathman Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, as the New Heathman Hotel. |
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| Heathman Hotel 2018 on Broadway; was a vintage from the 40s. |
"In 2013, Sondland and Provenance completed a renovation of Portland's historic Governor Hotel, renaming it Sentinel at Address: 614 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205." I hadn't heard of that hotel. "In December 2015, Sondland and Provenance announced the establishment of the company's first real estate investment fund, Provenance Hotel Partners Fund I. The $525 million fund was created specifically for hotel real estate investment and, at the time of its announcement, was the fourth largest fund ever launched in the state of Oregon. Following his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union by President Trump, Sondland's name was removed from the Provenance Hotels' website and replaced with that of his wife, who is now listed as the chairman.
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| "Theodore Ralph Kulongoski is an American politician, judge and lawyer who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011. A Democrat, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly and also served as the state Insurance Commissioner." |
How Sondland got into politics has to do with Oregon, which is of great interest to me. "Sondland also served as Oregon liaison to the White House. As an advisor to Kulongoski, Sondland suggested appointing Ted Wheeler as state treasurer, which Kulongoski did in 2010. In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Sondland as a member of the Commission on White House Fellows. Sondland collaborated with President Bush and Jay Leno on an annual charitable auction of an autographed vehicle, with proceeds benefitting the Fisher House Foundation and the George W. Bush Foundation’s Military Service Initiative. He was a bundler for Mitt Romney's 2012 Presidential campaign, and in 2012,
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| Willard Mitt Romney is an American politician and businessman who has served as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019. He previously served as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 elect |
Sondland was selected to serve as a member of Mitt Romney's presidential transition team."
As of March 2018, "Ambassador, Sondland said that strengthening US-EU trade relations is a top priority. He has supported using a strong US-EU economic partnership to counter what he has called "economic aggression and unfair trade practices" from China. In pursuit of this end, Sondland has promoted the idea of giving European governments access to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to allow them to better screen investors.
A negative report comes from the Washington Post about Sondland.
"The Washington Post writes that Sondland gained a reputation for "being indiscreet" and that officials "chastised [him] for using his personal phone for state business." He habitually traveled to Romania, Israel and other countries without coordinating his meetings with other officials. It was noted that he seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in Washington. A former White house official commented, “He always seemed to be in D.C. People would say, ‘Does he spend any time in Brussels?’ ” The Post writes, "Sondland’s approach to the job was seen more as a source of irritation than trouble until May [2019], when he moved to stake his claim to the U.S.-Ukraine relationship."
On September 26, 2019, the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released the unclassified text of the whistleblower complaint regarding the interactions between United States President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. In this document, Ambassador Sondland, along with U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Ambassador Kurt Volker were described as having "provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelensky". In an email exchange on July 19 they discuss the arrangements for the upcoming call between Trump and Zelensky. Sondland writes that he has briefed Zelensky and Volkner responds that the most important thing that Zelensky needs to tell Trump is that "he will help investigation and address any specific personnel issues if there are any."
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| Ambassador William B. Taylor to Ukraine |
William Brockenbrough Taylor Jr. (born September 14, 1947) is an American diplomat, government official, and former soldier, who served as the 6th United States ambassador to Ukraine 2006 to 2009 and as acting ambassador to Ukraine from June 2019 to January 2020.
Taylor is a former captain and company commander in the United States Army; he served in the Vietnam War and earned a Bronze Star and an Air Medal with a V device for valor. He proceeded to work in the United States Department of Energy and then the Department of Defense. From 1992 to 2002, Taylor carried out diplomatic work for the United States with firstly Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, secondly Afghanistan, thirdly Iraq, and fourthly the Quartet on the Middle East. From 2006 to 2009, Taylor served as the United States ambassador to Ukraine under the George W. Bush administration and the Barack Obama administration. He continued diplomatic work in the Middle East from 2011 to 2013.
Following the recall of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in mid-2019, Taylor was appointed chargé d'affaires for Ukraine under the Trump administration. At the request of State Department officials, he left in early January 2020.
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In the complaint released by the Committee Sondland's involvement in President Donald Trump's activity was also outlined in text conversations with the interim chargé d'affaires for Ukraine Bill Taylor.
In his testimony before the Committee, Sondland said that after the email exchange in which Taylor had expressed concerns about withholding the security assistance he called Trump asking for clarity on exactly what he wanted. He said he clearly remembered the call and characterized it saying, “it was a very short, abrupt conversation. He was not in a good mood. And he just said, ‘I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky to do the right thing.'” The Washington Post noted that adjusting for time differences, the call would have taken place between 12:31 a.m. Eastern time and 5:19 a.m. and the White House reported no record of a September 9 call between Trump and Sondland. |
| Rick Perry, Captain in Air Force |
James Richard "Rick" Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States Secretary of Energy from 2017 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 47th Governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, having been elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and later assuming the office from George W. Bush.
Perry ran unsuccessfully for the nomination for President of the United States in 2012 and 2016. President Donald Trump nominated him as Secretary of Energy; he was confirmed by the United States Senate in a 62–37 vote on March 2, 2017. On October 17, 2019, Perry reported to President Trump that he intended to resign as Secretary of Energy at the end of the year. He left office on December 1, 2019.
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| Kurt Volker Kurt Douglas Volker is an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to NATO and served as executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership. He worked in a volunteer capacity as the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine until his resignation on September 27, 2019. |
Born: December 27, 1964 (age 55 years), Pennsylvania
I notice that Volker, then Perry resigned in 2019. |
Soderland has not resigned his position as Ambassador. He is financially well off with a Lear Jet. An art collection worth as much as $25 million. And assets from his boutique hotel empire and other investments that could be worth well over $100 million. He is willing to testify in the impeachment.
Update: 6:34pm 1/23/2020
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Sondland
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/kurt-volker-impeachment-hearing-ukraine-biden.html
https://www.opb.org/news/article/gordon-sondland-wealth-jet-art-house/
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