Gordon Sondland, a key witness during Donald Trump’s first impeachment, has declared his support for the former president in the 2024 US presidential election, citing dissatisfaction with the Biden administration. Sondland, a wealthy hotelier and former US Ambassador to the European Union, stunned MSNBC host Ari Melber with his announcement during a live broadcast, according to the New York Post.
Sondland had testified in 2019 that there was a “quid pro quo” between Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, linking military aid to an investigation into the Biden family. Following the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Sondland publicly distanced himself from Trump, saying he could no longer support him. However, he has now changed his mind, arguing that Biden’s policies have done more harm than anything Trump did.
“I’ve now lived four years under the Biden-Harris policies, and I have to say that those policies are not only becoming an existential threat to our country’s way of life but to our allies as well,” Sondland said, sitting alongside former Trump officials Peter Navarro and Sarah Matthews, who resigned from the Trump administration after the January 6 Capitol attack.
Melber questioned Sondland about his change of mind, showing a clip from 2021 where the former ambassador criticised Trump’s role in the Capitol attack.
“I’m going to let you finish, but this is so striking,” Melber said. “You said it was a ‘no for me’ after that, after January 6. And here we are right now and you’re saying it’s a yes for you?”
Sondland replied, “It’s a yes for me. It is an absolute yes for me.”
The former Trump official explained that while Trump should have “admitted he lost the election and moved on,” the Biden administration’s failures had led him to reconsider.
Former Trump aide Matthews, who is now backing Kamala Harris, disagreed, arguing that Trump’s threat to democracy outweighs policy considerations. However, Sondland maintained that “policy matters greatly,” framing Biden’s governance as a greater danger than Trump’s handling of the Capitol riot.