Trump's biggest defenders in Congress reportedly knew nothing about move to block diplomat from testifying


After finding out from the press that the Trump administration blocked a top diplomat from testifying before Congress on Tuesday, several Republican lawmakers went to the White House and asked that they not be blindsided again, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
The State Department ordered Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, not to testify as part of the House impeachment probe. Several of President Trump's biggest cheerleaders — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), and Rep. Scott Perry (R-Penn.) — were waiting for Sondland to appear on Tuesday morning, and after learning that he wasn't coming, they headed to the White House to talk with Trump and his senior advisers about how they can improve their communication with his congressional defenders, Bloomberg News reports.
This isn't the first time lawmakers who want to help Trump have been left in the dark, several people said, and the senior advisers agreed that everyone should be on the same page regarding the impeachment strategy. Read more at Bloomberg News.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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