Ambassador to testify no quid pro quo assurance was Trump’s

A U.S. ambassador is expected to tell Congress that his text message reassuring another envoy there was no quid pro quo in their interactions with Ukraine was based solely on what he was told by President Donald Trump.

That’s according to a person familiar with the upcoming House impeachment testimony by Trump’s European Union ambassador.

Gordon Sondland is set to tell House committees on Thursday that he did understand the Trump administration was offering Ukraine’s president a White House visit in exchange for a public statement by Ukraine committing to investigations Trump wanted. That word comes from a person who wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the testimony and spoke on condition of anonymity.

But Sondland will say his text wasn’t based on any direct knowledge and he didn’t know the company being discussed for an investigation was tied to Joe Biden’s son.