Impeachment witness Gordon Sondland sues Pompeo and U.S. over $1.8 million in legal fees

Washington — Gordon Sondland, the former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union who was a key witness in the 2019 impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump, filed suit against the U.S. government and ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday, arguing he reneged on a promise to reimburse Sondland for attorneys' fees accrued during the House investigation.

Sondland, who was fired after his bombshell testimony in the impeachment probe, said he incurred nearly $1.8 million in legal fees and accused Pompeo of abandoning his pledge that the State Department would cover his costs for political convenience. "If Pompeo did not have the authority to bind the government, Pompeo went rogue and acted outside the course and scope of his employment and duties, making a promise in his personal capacity that was not the kind of act he was employed to perform, and not motivated by a desire to serve as the leader of the Department of State," Sondland's lawyers wrote in a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. "Instead, it was self-serving, made entirely for personal reasons for his own political survival in the hopes that Ambassador Sondland would not implicate him or others by his testimony."