Politics - News Analysis

Trump’s EU Ambassador Spent Over $1 Million in Taxpayer Money to Fix Up His New House

U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, a major figure in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, is reportedly overseeing a taxpayer-funded $1 million renovation of his government-provided residence in Brussels.

According to The Washington Post, the renovations include: kitchen improvements worth more than $400,000, a $30,000 sound system, a $95,000 outdoor “living pod,” and $33,000 worth of handmade furniture from Italy.

The State Department also allocated over $100,000 for Sondland’s other living accommodations while the renovations are underway.

Some of Sondland’s colleagues told the Post he became disappointed with his accommodations shortly after arriving in Brussels and tried to move into a new residence altogether before proposing the renovations.

Procurement records show that in the years before Sondland’s arrival, the biggest expenses were for regular maintenance of the swimming pool, which cost between $15,000 and $20,000 per year, and for general upkeep and landscaping, save for a $122,000 purchase in 2015 for refrigeration equipment, apparently for the house’s catering kitchen.

Under Sondland, however, the State Department has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on furniture, fabrics and what is described in documents as a “family kitchen,” at a cost of just under $223,000.

That project is distinct from another for a “professional kitchen,” costing about $209,000, the records show. Before Sondland’s arrival, the home did not have a personal kitchen and ambassadors and their families would prepare their personal meals in the professional kitchen, according to people familiar with the residence.

The State Department defended Sondland’s renovations, describing them as part of the “regular 17-year cycle of reviewing and refreshing furnishings and interior décor in representational residences.”

The ambassador is scheduled to be deposed by impeachment investigators on Thursday over his role in pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate corruption allegations against Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

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