US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland poses at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, June 4, 2019 ReutersSondland was initially scheduled to testify before the House committees on Tuesday and had flown from Brussels to do so, but was blocked by the Trump administration from appearingGordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, will testify before the committees leading an impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump on October 17, his lawyers said yesterday, complying with House Democrats' subpoena. Sondland was initially scheduled to testify before the House committees on Tuesday and had flown from Brussels to do so, but was blocked by the Trump administration from appearing. "Notwithstanding the State Department's current direction to not testify, Ambassador Sondland will honor the Committees' subpoena, and he looks forward to testifying on Thursday," his lawyers, Robert Luskin and Kwame Manley, said in a statement. House Democrats received a cache of the texts as part of their impeachment inquiry. The White House has said it would not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, which it says is illegitimate and constitutional.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 11, 2019 20:03 UTC