An interview we published with Gordon Sondland and his wife, Katy Durant, in late 2017 has gained notoriety on social media.
A few years ago we introduced a column in the magazine called ‘Power Couple.’ The column profiles influential couples in the Oregon business community.
It is designed to be a lighthearted lifestyle piece that asks how the couple met, their wedding, hobbies, ambitions, etc.
It was impossible to predict that one of the subjects we profiled back in late 2017 would now be at the center of a power struggle at the very top of the political spectrum.
In the January 2018 issue we published a Power Couple piece with Gordon Sondland and his wife, Katy Durant. At the time Sondland, founder and chairman of Portland-based Provenance Hotels, a chain of boutique hotels, did not share his political ambitions with us.
Gordon Sondland and Katy Durant were featured in the January 2018 issue of Oregon Business magazine and online
It was known, however, that he donated a large amount of money to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
A few months after the piece was published, President Trump selected Sondland to be the U.S ambassador to the European Union.
Who could have known that Sondland would go on to play a central role in allegations that the president and his advisors, Sondland included, pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in exchange for military aid, an allegation that is now leading efforts to impeach President Trump.
The Power Couple online piece with Sondland, dated January 2, 2018, has recently gotten several comments on Twitter. Here is a sample:
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