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Acting US envoy to Ukraine William Taylor lands devastating blow on Donald Trump's presidency with explosive testimony

Career diplomat Taylor's 15-page testimony to the House impeachment investigators could be a turning point in impeachment procedure, says Democrats; White House meanwhile attacks Taylor.
UPDATED FEB 28, 2020
William Taylor (Getty Images)
William Taylor (Getty Images)

It seems American envoys to the Ukraine are not too friendly towards President Donald Trump. Former envoy Marie Yovanovitch lost the confidence of the president that saw her exit and now, acting US Ambassador to the Ukraine William Taylor has made an explosive comment. On Tuesday, October 22, the 72-year-old diplomat testified in front of the House impeachment investigators that Trump sought to hold back key military aid to Kiev and even refused a White House meeting with his newly elected Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky unless the latter agreed to undertake a politically motivated probe into his rivals. A whistleblower complaint accusing Trump to trying to influence the Ukrainian leadership to investigate his domestic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter over links in Ukraine led to a massive controversy and the Democrats launched a formal impeachment against the president in September. 

Trump's quid pro quo

Taylor’s 15-page testimony gives the simple message that Trump indeed used his presidential clout for personal political gain, known in Latin as “quid pro quo”. He said that soon after he first reached Kiev in the summer, the purpose of the “irregular” and secondary back channel of America’s communications with Ukraine “diverged” from the official communication channel. The back channel was led by the then special envoy Kurt Volker, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Trump’s Attorney Rudi Giuliani, who has also found himself in deep trouble.

The 10-hour-long testimony saw Taylor, who has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, nullifying Trump’s counterclaims against the accusations. While Trump continued to attack the impeachment process, likening it to a “lynching”, the White House made a personal attack on Taylor, saying he was part of a band of “radical unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution”. 

OCTOBER 22: Bill Taylor (C), the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, arrives at a closed session before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees October 22, 2019 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Taylor was on Capitol Hill to testify to the committees for the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Democrats, on the other hand, claimed Taylor’s testimony brought about a turning point in the impeachment procedure and it would speed things up.

Military aid, meeting with new Ukraine president depended on Kiev's cooperation

In his opening statement, Taylor said Sondland told him that “everything” -- including US military aid to Ukraine and a meeting between Trump and Zelensky -- depended on Kiev’s public stance on launching a probe against the American president’s political opponents. A White House budget official said on a secure phone call in July that Trump had personally ordered withholding of military aid, Taylor added.

“It is a rancorous story about whistle-blowers, Mr. Giuliani, side channels, quid pro quos, corruption and interference in elections,” the envoy said.

Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and current lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a cheque to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the cheque,” Taylor said, according to the opening statement.

The big shots in the Trump presidency knew everything

Taylor even claimed that some of the big shots in the Trump administration at that moment --  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CIA Director Gina Haspel, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former National Security Advisor John Bolton -- knew about Trump's stance and sought to meet the president to convince him to release the funds as that could have imperilled ally Ukraine and also Washington’s own interests in the fight vis-a-vis Russia. The administration did not budge till the last minute, he said.

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