Gordon Sondland, the us Ambassador to the European Union, will tell Congress that President Donald trump has told him to help his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani with his plan for Ukraine.

In his opening remarks, which were obtained by The Daily Beast, Sondland wrote that any conspiracy to induce a foreign government to influence the American election would be wrong.

I didn’t realize much later that Mr. Julian’s agenda might also include efforts to encourage Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the 2020 presidential re-election campaign, he will say, according to a written version of his opening statement.

Sondland’s role in the campaign of pressure on the Ukrainian President was first reported by the Daily Beast. He and Giuliani called on President Vladimir Zelensky to publicly announce the investigation into the Bidens. It is alleged that there is a qui-Pro quo under which Zelensky will be rewarded by the White house with a meeting between the presidents in exchange for launching an investigation into one of trump’s potential rivals in 2020.

Please know that I would not recommend that Mr. Giuliani or any individual engage in these foreign policy matters. However, given the clear direction of the presidents, as well as the importance we attach to the organization of a meeting at the White house between presidents trump and Zelensky, we agreed to do as President trump led, sondland writes.

Based on the direction of the presidents, we were faced with a choice: we could abandon the goal of a white house meeting for President Zelensky, which, for those reasons, we believed was crucial to strengthening U.S.-Ukrainian ties and advancing longstanding U.S. foreign policy goals in the region; or we could do as President trump directed and talk to Mr. Giuliani to address the presidents ‘ concerns.

The testimony describes how trump’s obsession with investigating his political rival appropriated Sondland’s efforts to strengthen U.S. ties with Ukraine. Sondland will say he was disappointed that trump would not commit to meeting Zelensky until he spoke with Giuliani.

It was obvious to all of us that the key to changing the presidents ‘ views on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani, the statement said. It is my understanding that Secretary Perry of energy and Special envoy Volcker have taken the initiative to contact Mr. Giuliani, as directed by the President.

According to the testimony, when he spoke with Giuliani, it became clear that trump wanted a public statement from Zelensky obliging Ukraine to look into anti-corruption issues. Sondland will say: Mr. Giuliani specifically mentioned the 2016 election (including the dNC server) and Burisma as two anti-corruption investigation topics important to the President.

Burisma was an energy firm where hunter Biden served on the Board of Directors for five years. Trump, with no evidence, has repeatedly accused former Vice President Joe Biden of acting improperly to protect his son, calling for the ouster of Ukraine’s former attorney General, who was handling money laundering allegations at the company at the time.

Aspects of Sandlands opening statement raise questions about his sincerity. The former hotelier portrays Giuliani as leverage to push trump on policy Toward Ukraine, which he describes in a statement as his Ambassador’s priority. However, he also claims that he does not remember meeting Mr. Giuliani in person and communicating with him only a few times.

While Sondland describes the Burisma investigation as important to trump, as Giuliani reports, Sondland claims to have been unaware of hunter Biden’s place on the companies ‘ Board of Directors.

Similarly, Sondland presents his now-famous instruction, shown in text messages provided by former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volcker, to stop texting about the pressure campaign and instead speak on the phone as nothing more than a message of preference rather than a belated reluctance to document their conversation. I just prefer to speak rather than text, he says in a statement.

Sondland will testify that he was not on Zelensky’s call and did not see the transcript until September, when the truncated transcript was publicly released by the White house. Sandland will say that none of the summary of the call, which he received before, there was no mention Burise or Biden, or that trump has filed any request to the President Zelensky.

Sondland will say: let me be clear: Inviting a foreign government to conduct investigations to influence the upcoming U.S. election would be wrong. Withholding foreign aid to pressure a foreign government into taking such steps would be wrong.

He will add that I did not participate and will never participate in such endeavors.