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The us Ambassador to the European Union told Congress on Thursday that he was “disappointed” that President trump had instructed him and other diplomats to work with Rudy Giuliani to root out corruption in Ukraine.

“Indeed, Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volcker, and I were disappointed with our may 23, 2019 white house appearance. We firmly believed that the meeting between President trump and Zelensky at the White house was important and that they should be scheduled quickly and without any preconditions. We have also been disappointed by the direction of the President that we are bringing in Mr. Giuliani, ” Gordon Sondland told a congressional hearing into the impeachment investigation in his opening remarks.

He was referring to energy Secretary Rick Perry and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Kurt Volcker.

At the meeting, held three days after Vladimir Zelensky was elected President of Ukraine, Sondland and other members of the American delegation tried to persuade trump to invite the new leader to the White house.

Sondland noted that Zelensky was elected after participating in an anti-corruption campaign, and urged the White house to arrange a phone conversation with trump, followed by a visit to the Oval office.

“However, President trump was skeptical that Ukraine was serious about reforms and fighting corruption, and he instructed those present at the meeting to talk to Mr. Giuliani, his personal lawyer, about his concerns,” Sondland told lawmakers.

He said it was “obvious” to all of us that the key to persuading trump was Giuliani, and Perry and Volcker took the lead in contacting the former mayor.

Addressing a text message exchange with acting U.S. Ambassador bill Taylor in September in which Taylor raised the question of whether the trump administration was withholding nearly $ 400 million in military aid to Ukraine to get Zelensky to sort out the Bidens, Sondland said he would reach out to Trump about it.

“Taking this matter seriously, and given the numerous versions of speculation that have been circulating about security assistance, I called President Trump directly. I asked the President: “What do you want from Ukraine?”The President said,” Nothing. There is no quid pro quo. The President repeated “no qui-proquo” several times, ” Sondland said. It was a very short call. And I remember the President was in a bad mood.”

He said trump’s Directive to work with Giuliani made a bad impression on him and others, Sondland said.

“We chose the latter path, which seemed to all of us-Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volcker and myself-the best alternative,” Sondland said.

He said he didn’t realize “until much later” that part of Giuliani’s program is to “encourage Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to engage Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the 2020 presidential re-election campaign.”

House speaker Nancy Pelosi launched an impeachment investigation after a whistleblower complaint revealed a phone conversation between trump and Zelensky.

Trump called his July 25 phone conversation with Zelensky “perfect” and “appropriate,” but Democrats said the conversation illustrated how the President is abusing the power of his office to get dirt on a political enemy.

Sondland is the latest person in the U.S. diplomatic corps to testify before Congress.

Trump and Republicans contend that Biden, as Vice President, pressured Ukraine to fire chief Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the gas company that hired hunter.