A U.S. diplomat who was a key witness in last week’s Democratic impeachment hearings against President Trump threatened to sue media outlets over a Wednesday story accusing him of serial sexual misconduct over a decade ago.
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, was accused by three women in a ProPublica report published Wednesday of forcible kissing, touching and/or exposure — claims he called “fundamentally false” and “produced with deceitful journalism methods.”
“Ambassador Sondland refutes the allegations entirely and intends to bring a lawsuit against those publications, their management, and others involved as swiftly as possible,” he wrote in a statement on his personal Web site.
In eight bullet points, he listed numerous criticisms of the accounts of the three women — some of which were included in statement made to ProPublica prior to publication — their political bona fides, and ethical breaches in the reporting by ProPublica and partner Portland Monthly.
In his statement, he also said ProPublica’s reporters asked leading questions and accused ProPublica of sandbagging and not giving him fair time to rebut the claims.
“ProPublica gave us just one-and-a-half business days to respond to the allegations, even though gathering records and details from so many years back would be next to impossible … whether this method of reporting and substance-free accusations is taken seriously is not up to Portland Monthly or ProPublica but instead for readers and the public to assess. We intend to confront it accordingly, both in the public discourse and in court,” Mr. Sondland wrote.
SEE ALSO: Gordon Sondland, impeachment witness, accused of sexual misconduct: Report
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.