Gordon Sondland, US Ambassador To EU Who Testified Against Trump, Is Fired

Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and a key impeachment witness, was fired Friday. Sondland's firing comes just hours after another star impeachment witness, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, was dismissed from the White House.

The firings are seen as retribution by President Trump, who was acquitted of two impeachment charges by the Senate on Wednesday.

“I was advised today that the President intends to recall me effective immediately as United States ambassador to the European Union," Sondland said in a statement.

CNN quoted an unnamed source close to Sondland as saying "there is no other job for him." Sondland was a Seattle hotelier and major Trump donor before being posted in Brussels. The report said Sondland's ties to Trump had deteriorated badly after his testimony before the House impeachment inquiry. He had been removed from overseeing the Ukraine portfolio after the testimony. The firings were meant to "send a message" that siding against the President will not be tolerated, the report said.

Sondland was considered a key actor in Trump's attempt to pressure Ukraine for dirt on political rivals, especially former Vice President Joe Biden, whose son Hunter Biden had held a board position on the country's energy company Burisma.

Sondland had told the impeachment inquiry: "We had no desire to set any conditions on the Ukranians. Indeed, my own personal view -- which I shared repeatedly with others -- was that the White House meeting and security assistance should have proceeded without pre-conditions of any kind."