Gordon Sondland: US ambassador denies multiple allegations of sexual misconduct

Three women say they were retaliated against after they turned down Mr Sondland's advances

(AP)

Three woman have accused US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland of sexual misconduct, according to a joint report by ProPublica and Portland Monthly.

Mr Sondland, in response, has denied the allegations forcefully.

The accusations come as Mr Sondland finds himself at the centre of the ongoing impeachment scandal plaguing Donald Trump's presidency, and just after he publicly told Congress that there was a quid pro quo demanded by the president.

The women who have accused him of sexual misconduct say that, after they rejected his advances, he retaliated against them professionally.

In one case, a potential business partner told the news outlets that she was touring a hotel owned by the hotelier when he grabbed her face and kissed her. Once she rejected his advance, she claims, he then decided against investing in her business.

Another woman said she recalls falling over a couch backwards while trying to get away from Mr Sondland, after he exposed himself to her. Later, after she had told him she was not interested, he called her and yelled at her about her job performance.

The third woman — who ProPublica and Portland Monthly identified as 27 years younger than the Seattle based businessman-turned-Trump administration official — said that he stopped giving her professional job finding advice after he pressed up against her and kissed her during a professional meet-up, and she rebuffed him.

"In decades of my career in business and civic affairs, my conduct can be affirmed by hundreds of employees and colleagues with whom I have worked in countless circumstances,” Mr Sondland said in a statement, which can be read in full here. “These untrue claims of unwanted touching and kissing are concocted and, I believe, coordinated for political purposes. They have no basis in fact, and I categorically deny them.”

Mr Sondland's lawyer added in a letter to the publications: "Notably, what each of these three women share in common is that they pursued Ambassador Sondland for financial and personal gain — an investment, a job, and insurance brokerage work — and he declined their proposals.”

The lawyer, Jim McDermott, added: "Given the timing of your intended story, a reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that you are attempting to affect Ambassador Sondland’s credibility as a fact witness in the pending impeachment inquiry. Given the politically charged climate in which current events are unfolding, some might consider this to be veiled witness tampering.”

Mr Sondland has emerged as an important witness in the ongoing impeachment probe, which is looking into the president's apparent effort to use US military aid to Ukraine to force Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly announce an investigation into the Bidens and the 2016 election.

Mr Sondland testified initially in October to a closed-door impeachment hearing, and then again earlier this month, in a public hearing.

During that follow-up hearing, he testified that he understood there to have been an exlicit quid pro quo demanded by the president, meaning that the military aid was specifically tied to the investigation. Mr Sondland, who was chosen to become a US ambassador after donating a sizeable sum to Mr Trump's inaugural fund, is said to have been tapped to help with an alternative diplomatic channel to compel the investigation.

The allegations are also the latest sexual misconduct allegations to be made against a member of the Trump administration or an ally to the administration. Past allegations have been made notably against Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the president himself.

Mr Kavanaugh and Mr Trump, like Mr Sondland, have denied allegations of sexual misconduct.