PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says he plans to donate $16,000 in campaign contributions he received from Portland hotelier and European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland in 2012 and 2016.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Wheeler announced Tuesday that he plans to send the money to eight local nonprofits and a national coalition supporting the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Wheeler is running for re-election in May. At least one of his opponents, Sarah Iannarone, has called for Wheeler to return Sondland’s donations.
Wheeler’s re-election campaign manager Jennifer Arguinzoni says Wheeler wanted to give Sondland an “opportunity to explain his involvement in the Ukrainian scandal,” before making a decision.
Sondland revised his previous testimony to Congress, acknowledging he knew about and communicated to a top Ukrainian official that U.S. aid to the East European ally was being withheld until Ukraine’s president agreed to release a statement about fighting corruption as Trump wanted. Congress released the new testimony Tuesday.
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