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Article snippet: A key diplomat and donor to Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, was blocked from testifying last week by the Trump administration. The White House initially vowed not to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry into allegations that the president abused his office by urging a foreign leader to deliver political dirt on former Vice President Sondland will be the sixth witness to testify in the Democrats’ investigation, and he could prove to be among the most controversial. Sondland, a former businessman who donated $1 million to the president’s inauguration committee, has emerged as a vocal Trump loyalist who quickly defended the president’s Ukraine dealings in the face of concern from other leading U.S. diplomats. Text messages turned over to Congress this month by MORE, the administration’s former special envoy to Ukraine, revealed that Volker and Sondland had sought to entice Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into launching an anticorruption investigation into Biden, a top 2020 presidential contender, and his son by dangling promises of a meeting with Trump if Zelensky agreed. The text messages also reveal a conversation last month between Sondland, Volker and William Taylor, the current chargé d’affaires for Ukraine, in which Taylor seemed to express grave concerns that Trump was making the release of U.S. military aid to Ukraine contingent upon Zelensky’s decision to investigate the Bidens. “As I said on the phone, I thin... Link to the full article to read more