This archive report was first published on 21 November 2019.
On November 20, 2019, the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine took an unexpected turn when US Envoy Gordon Sondland revealed the president's colorful language.
During a televised hearing, Sondland, the US Ambassador to the European Union, acknowledged that he may have told Trump that Ukraine's leader 'loves your ass.'
"That sounds like something I would say," Sondland said with a smile when asked by the Democratic counsel about the account.
"That's how President Trump and I communicate, a lot of four-letter words. In this case, three-letter," he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
According to Sondland, he was trying to explain to Trump how Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was 'very willing to work with the United States and was being very amicable.'
"So putting it in Trump-speak -- by saying 'he loves your ass, he'll do whatever you want' -- meant that he would really work with us on a whole host of issues," Sondland said.
