Rufus Gifford is the former U.S. ambassador to Denmark. He was nominated to the role by President Barack Obama and served from 2013-2017 before returning to Massachusetts and launching a campaign for Congress. Gifford is speaking out on Twitter after recent reports the current U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, used his personal cell phone to speak to Donald Trump in the lead-up to the controversial call between Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sondland also used his personal phone in a text conversation with Bill Taylor, who was acting as a U.S. representative in Ukraine after Donald Trump recalled longtime diplomat Marie Yovanovitch, who apparently refused to play corruption politics with Trump and Rudy Giuliani.
In a text message to Ambassador Sondland, Taylor said, “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” After a five-hour delay, in which it is now believed Sondland spoke directly to Donald Trump on the phone, Sondland finally replied back to say, “Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind.” It is believed this text was cover because Taylor had put his corruption concerns in a text message, which would be recoverable evidence if questions ever surfaced.
So, how unusual would it be for an ambassador stationed overseas to use their personal cell phone for government communications, particularly direct contact with the president of the United States? Unheard of, says Rufus Gifford, who went on Twitter to break down not only how “sloppy” this would be, but how dangerous it would be for national security because there’s no doubt foreign agents would be listening to these calls as they happened. See the thread below:
Gifford then went on to tell a story about a time he was reprimanded because security in these offices are so tight.
So, there you have it. The corruption and cover-up around the situation in Ukraine not only endanger our upcoming presidential election, they make us vulnerable from a national security standpoint. Foreign actors or governments may have information they could use to blackmail Trump or Trump officials, knowing their careers and reputations would be destroyed if the information leaked. That makes every single one of us vulnerable.