Gordon Sondland was streaking over the West Coast in his Learjet in 2016 when the bad news came. Jeb Bush’s campaign was on the phone. He was bowing out of the race for the White House. For more than a decade, Sondland’s home in Portland, Oregon, had been a fundraising outpost for establishment Republicans, candidates he hoped would one day recognize his work corralling wealthy West Coast donors and reward him with a high-profile appointment — preferably, he told friends, an ambassadorship. Bush was the latest to disappoint. Sondland “kept talking about it,” said a fellow Bush donor, adding that “2016 was not turning out remotely as we had expected.” To realize his goal, Sondland made a political about-face and backed Donald Trump, a candidate he once said was out of touch with his “personal beliefs and values on so many levels.” After the election, Sondland contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural. And he began calling in political favors — including from Republican National Committee chairman-turned-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus — to convince Trump that he could be a team player. Now, the lengths to which Sondland would go to impress Trump — and to advance the president’s agenda… Read full this story
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