Fox news today:
Three women have accused U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland of sexually harassing them and then taking retaliatory measures when they rejected his advances.
Sondland, who was thrust into the national spotlight last week when he testified in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump, is accused of forcibly trying to kiss two women in separate incidents and exposing himself to a third. All incidents occurred while Sondland was working as the chairman of Provenance Hotels and before he had been appointed to his role as ambassador.
The sexual harassment claims were first reported by ProPublica and Portland Monthly Magazine. In a statement published on his personal website Wednesday, Sondland denied the claims in the story, calling it “fundamentally false” and “intended to influence congressional proceedings.”
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“Ambassador Sondland refutes the allegations entirely and intends to bring a lawsuit against those publications, their management, and others involved as swiftly as possible,” the statement continued.
In one incident, Sondland purportedly took Nicole Vogel, a prospective business partner and the owner of Portland Monthly, on a tour of a room in a hotel he owns before grabbing her face and trying to kiss her. After Vogel rejected him, Sondland reneged on investing in her venture.
“I remember seeing my hand drop from the door handle,” Vogel said. “I turned around, and he’s standing right behind me, and he says, ‘Can I just have a hug first?’”
She added: “And as I pulled back, he grabs my face and goes to kiss me.”
Sondland’s statement noted Vogel’s ownership of Portland Monthly, which he described as an “outlandish conflict of interest.” He also described Vogel as “a frequent Democratic party donor and close associate of Rep. Earl Blumenauer, [D-Ore.] who has spent many weeks maligning Amb. Sondland and threatening his company, misconduct that is now the subject of a Congressional Ethics Office complaint.
The second incident involved Jana Solis, a hospitality safety engineer who worked for Sondland. He allegedly exposed himself to her during a tour of his home – saying “I just thought we could have some fun” – and when she expressed her lack of interest, he reportedly called her and yelled at her about her job performance.
“He was pissed,” she said. “He didn’t get his way [with me], and he was making it about work…And he was making it all my fault.”
In his statement, Sondland claimed that Solis “altered the date on her allegation by five years, first claiming it occurred in 2003 and then later saying it was 2008 – this despite insisting that contemporaneous co
