Former Ambassador Gordon Sondland sues Mike Pompeo to recoup some $1.8M in legal fees

The Trump Administration Soap Opera takes a rather interesting turn of events -I’m not sure how viably Sondland’s lawsuit it but it’s a riveting read, for sure

You made me a pinky promise now I’m out almost $2Million…

I mean this is kind of an interesting complaint (via ECF https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/doc1/04518310106) —it appears that Sondland is suing because Pompeo promised the State Department, the Federal Government would “pay for legal expenses related the Donald Trump impeachment”

Noting that Mike Pompeo made “legally binding promise” in which the State Department would then reimburse Sondland for the expenses he incurred during the 2019 impeachment…specifically the complaint states:

Pompeo represented that he possessed the authority to bind the Government to an agreement whereby the Government, through the United States Department of State (“Department of State” or “State Department”), would reimburse Plaintiff for all of his attorneys’ fees and costs in connection with complying with Congressional subpoenas…

…in 2019, Ambassador Sondland was subpoenaed to testify before the United States Congress in his capacity as a State Department employee and advised that attorneys from the Government had been declared unavailable to advise or represent Ambassador Sondland. Accordingly, Pompeo made a legally binding promise, both individually and on behalf of the Government, to reimburse Plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees and costs…

In my opinion here’s what I think happened - Pompeo/Trump pulled a bait and switch with Sondland. When they saw his testimony they were not at all pleased and it is reasonable to conclude that Trump told Pompeo not to reimburse Sondland for his legal expenses. Because that’s how vindictive Trump is and it’s always about the money. He also views people as disposable.

For Example Paragraph 3 (hence why I embedded Sondland’s impeachment testimony)

Ambassador Sondland was required to prepare for highly charged testimony under oath…

…with international scrutiny without access to materials or anyone from the Government agencies which had knowledge of all the facts relevant to his testimony. Ambassador Sondland was forced to create a new team to reconstruct all the materials needed and to prepare for this daunting task..

Trump Administration the Truth gets you fired:

In some respects you almost feel bad for poor Gordon but remember he had no business being our Ambassador - nothing in his CV made him a likely candidate as our Country’s Ambassador. Remember that PAS serve “at the pleasure of the President” and it’s odd that Sondland would say he was fired for telling the truth. In my opinion Sondland saw the writing on the wall and for once might have done the honorable thing by being truthful

Ambassador Sondland truthfully testified to the best of his ability about his experiences on the front lines of the Government’s diplomatic relations with the Ukrainian government…

…Ambassador Sondland learned that testifying truthfully and candidly before Congress as cameras roll was in fact a fireable offense in Pompeo’s Department of State. Plaintiff was terminated on February 7, 2020, simply for telling the truth.

The duality of Sondland’s argue is - if Pompeo was “acting” in his capacity as Secretary of State, he entered into a binding contract…if Pompeo did not have that authority then Sondland wants the Court to hold Pompeo “personally liable” what’s interesting is by Pompeo reneging on a “binding contract” that would have indemnified Sondland, which makes paragraphs 11 and 12 all the more interesting -especially in the context of paragraph 9:

Pompeo reneged on his promise…the Government has withheld reimbursement of Ambassador Sondland’s attorneys’ fees and costs in willful breach of the October 2019 agreement between Pompeo, the Government and Ambassador Sondland.

he did not possess the authority to bind the Government to reimburse Ambassador Sondland’s attorneys’ fees, Pompeo was at all times acting for his own self-serving personal or political reasons, to further his interests to protect
himself and others.

Interesting- starting on page 6 of Sondland’s lawsuit, he provides a pretty detailed tick-tock from September 24, 2019 throughout February 2020. But it’s paragraphs 25 thru 27 that are intriguing (because at the time I remember tweeting why would Sondland retain outside counsel? Typically if you are testifying as a Government Employee the Government attorneys represent you) and I never understood why Sondland was locked out of his documents and his staff seemed to take on an overly adversarial and at times hostile role towards him…

Ambassador Sondland was called to testify in his capacity as a United States Ambassador and a State Department employee, he was informed …that neither the State Department nor the U.S. Department of Justice would represent him.

October 2019, after Ambassador Sondland learned he would not be provided the assistance of attorneys from the Government or allowed to use the assistance of his Ambassadorial staff, he scheduled a call with Pompeo…

But WHOA THERE…paragraph 27 - did Pompeo know that Sondland’s private/outside counsel was present and listening to the call? About that indemnification…pay attention to what I underlined because this is hugely important…

Pompeo and the Government promised Ambassador Sondland that the Department of State, acting through the Secretary of State and in consultation with the Office of the White House Counsel, would reimburse Ambassador Sondland for all of his attorneys’ fees and costs of Private Counsel in connection with the forthcoming Congressional proceedings (hereinafter, the “Indemnity Undertaking”).

…Private Counsel heard Pompeo’s promise, as they were listening to the call between Pompeo and Ambassador Sondland on a speaker phone.

I think a lot of us assumed that the Trump White House engaged in widespread obstruction of the lawful and constitutionally mandated Congressional Oversight to include investigations into his abuse of power…but I never thought I’d see this is black and white that it came from the State Department…

…morning on October 8, 2019, the acting legal adviser to the Department of State instructed Ambassador Sondland not to appear for the previously scheduled appearance…Ambassador Sondland complied with the Government’s orders and cancelled his October 8, 2019 appearance…

…the House served a subpoena upon Ambassador Sondland requiring his appearance and testimony in public proceedings….neither the Department of State nor The White House offered any substantive guidance on how to respond to the subpoena…both the acting legal adviser to the State Department and Deputy White House Counsel reiterated to Private Counsel that the Department of Justice could not represent Ambassador Sondland…

And there it is…in all its refined ostentatious glory…Sondland might be one of the more cunning Trump hires…because oddly Sondland might (I can’t emphasize might) have a solid foundation for his lawsuit. You see Trump is known for a few things, beyond his snake oil cons - Trump has a long documented history of screwing over attorneys and not paying them. In this case Trump should have paid Sondland’s legal expenses as previously promised by Pompeo and witnessed and affirmed by numerous individuals and Agencies.

October 16, 2019, Pompeo again reaffirmed that the Indemnity Undertaking was made with his knowledge and approval…Pompeo promised without any qualification that the State Department would reimburse Ambassador Sondland the fees and costs of Private Counsel in full.

…Under Secretary for Management and the Counselor to the Secretary of State also confirmed that Ambassador Sondland would be reimbursed in full.

Because (assuming Sondland’s lawsuit survives the expected Motion to Dismiss) discovery will be uncomfortable and painful for both Trump and Pompeo. That fact alone makes me happy. For Example if this passes the MTD - we will likely find out who/why/when/how Sondland was locked out of his State Department records and notes:

Ambassador Sondland prepared for a second round of testimony, the Department of State continued to restrict Ambassador Sondland’s access to materials essential to his preparation…

I’m sorry did someone say “qui pro quo”… because at the time I noted that Sondland’s “amended” opening statement was remarkable and worth taking the time to review in light of previous witnesses public testimony…

Ambassador Sondland decided to submit an amendment to his October 17 opening statement. In this amendment, Ambassador Sondland clarified that he had told several individuals, including an adviser to Ukraine President Zelensky, that he speculated that the resumption of military aid to Ukraine—which had been suspended in July 2019—

…was conditioned on the Ukrainian government launching anticorruption investigations into the gas company Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Hunter Biden, the son of President Joseph R. Biden, served on the board of directors of Burisma between 2014 and 2019.

Oh. Dear. God. According to Sondland the first time he heard about the subpoena, he was at the White House meeting with Trump…

The President responded, “go ahead and tell the truth.”

This just keeps getting better and better. Admittedly I’m not a fan of Sondland and viewed him as a sideshow carnival distraction but good lord… the discovery and interrogatories will be off the chain…

February 7, Ambassador Sondland met with the Counselor to the Department of State, who reaffirmed that the Indemnity Undertaking would be honored…

the Under Secretary reaffirmed that the Indemnity Undertaking would be honored and that the Government would reimburse Ambassador Sondland’s attorneys’ fees and costs in full.

Let’s be clear Sondland was fired because he told the truth, he was also fired because Trump and Pompeo didn’t think he was sufficiently loyal to protecting Trump and his refusal to give Trump cover for withholding aid from Ukraine.

But the problem for the Biden State Department is the Trump State Department actually did reimburse Sondland. Albeit the reimbursement was only $86,040.00 but by reimbursing Sondland that infers that the previous Administration did indemnify Sondland and this tips the scales in favor of Sondland’s claim…

Just to reiterate I’m not a fan of Sondland but his complaint seems to have legs and between various witnesses (specifically his retained outside counsel) and numerous high ranking State Department employees and attorneys from the White House Counsel’s office …I’m here with the popcorn to watch what happens in this lawsuit…

Especially Breach of Contract Pursuant to Tucker Act -28 U.S.C. § 1491 Against the U.S. Government and the second cause of action: Fraud: Intentional Misrepresentation Against Michael Pompeo Individually …

Pompeo knew his material representations were false and intended them to be false in order to induce Plaintiff to comply with his instructions.

With a very close second being the third cause of Action - Negligent Misrepresentation Against Michael Pompeo Individually - read this carefully because wow. just. wow:

Pompeo intended to, and did, induce Plaintiff into incurring $1.8 million in attorneys’ fees. Ambassador Sondland reasonably and justifiably relied on these misrepresentations. Had Plaintiff known that Pompeo did not have the authority to bind the State Department, he would not have incurred $1.8 million in attorneys’ fees

…accompanied by conduct and a state of mind evincing malice or its equivalent. Pompeo acted with evil motive, actual malice, with intent to injure, or in willful disregard for the rights of Plaintiff. Pompeo’s conduct itself was outrageous, grossly fraudulent, or reckless toward Plaintiff.

I went ahead and uploaded Sondland’s lawsuit to my public drive - since he listed Pompeo’s home address - I decided to redact it because I’m not down with doxing or forging documents. So for now let’s wait and see how Pompeo and the Biden DOJ respond to this lawsuit.

-Filey