U.S. envoy says he was told release of Ukraine aid was contingent on public declaration to investigate Bidens, 2016 election

The senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine told lawmakers Tuesday that President Trump made the release of military aid contingent on public declarations from Ukraine that it would investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, contradicting Trump’s denial that he used the money as leverage for political gain.

The explosive, closed-door testimony from acting ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. undermined the repeated statements of the president and the depositions of other administration officials, with the potential to reset the House impeachment probe of Trump.

Taylor, a seasoned diplomat, Army veteran and meticulous note taker, provided an expansive description of a series of events at the heart of an investigation that poses the most serious threat to the Trump presidency. One Democrat described the testimony as “damning.”

In a 15-page opening statement, obtained by The Washington Post, Taylor stood by his characterization that it was “crazy” to make the assistance contingent on investigations he found troubling.

He described how officials from the Pentagon, State Department, CIA and former National Security Adviser John Bolton tried unsuccessfully to get a meeting with Trump to release the aid. He testified that Ukrainian officials were blindsided by the White House’s decision to release a rough transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with President Volodymyr Zelensky in which the president asked for a favor with “virtually no notice of the release and they were livid.”

Upon arriving in Kyiv last spring Taylor became alarmed by secondary diplomatic channels involving U.S. officials that he called “weird,” he said.

Taylor walked lawmakers through a series of conversations he had with other U.S. diplomats who were trying to obtain what one had called the “deliverable” of Ukrainian help investigating Trump’s political rivals.

“In August and September of this year, I became increasingly concerned that our relationship with Ukraine was being fundamentally undermined by an irregular informal channel of U.S. policy-making and by the withholding of vital security assistance for domestic political reasons,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s testimony filled in some blanks about the activities of U.S. officials who appear to have sought Ukrainian help at the behest of Trump and his personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

At issue is whether the White House conditioned military aid and a meeting between the two presidents on Zelensky’s cooperation, and whether that constitutes an abuse of Trump’s office.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpos … story.html

I find your willful ignorance of our constitutional crisis/traitor president to be embarrassing and offensive. You should stick to what you're best at: Yelling at kids to get off your lawn.

Joe Walsh is a POS, but that's irrelevant. You're being disingenuous here and pivoting.

I never said it was fake, I'm saying it's what the WH chose to release. Are you naive enough to believe they're going to be honest with this? When are they ever honest? Weren't you the first guy here to say "I told you so" after Barr released the fake memo? Didn't it ever occur to you to learn from that? You were quickly fooled, and you used that to validate yourself on a message board (albeit it briefly.) Never had an 'Ah ah' moment a few days later?

It's laughable that any adult could watch this administration for the last two years and feel that they should be suspicious of those pointing out their criminality. All while demanding more "evidence."

Correct. This says quite a bit, and I believe we're at a tipping point. Ben Sasse has come forward and said this is very troubling, Romney the same. Pat Toomey said this was inappropriate and Rob Portman said it was "what he expected."

I watched Joe Walsh, Mark Sanford and Bill Weld call Trump a traitor last week on national TV and call out the GOP for canceling primaries in various states. This is what we're seeing in the public eye, not behind the scenes.

My guess is that there are many Republicans who secretly despise trump, but have stuck to the party line. When you have three Republicans who want to primary this guy, that says there is a shift happening in the party. Andrea Mitchell underscores that point.

I don't think you possess the maturity level or honesty to understand what is happening right now. The White House just did something similar prior to the release of the Mueller report. They got their hands on it first, modified it and then released it to the public. Just like Barr's four page summary of Mueller's report. The only difference is that in this one, it clearly shows criminality. It's 100% prima facie evidence.

Last time you idiots all came here to say it was nothing (based on Barr's false synopsis) and it turned out you were wrong. There were nearly a dozen instances of obstruction by trump. The report also concluded that he was open to accepting help from Russia and use it against Hillary (same as now.) Today you continue to lie about that outcome, because you're a liar I suppose?

It's also only one facet of the whistle-blower report, which is being reported this evening that Trump also tried to hide evidence of this call. In addition people who have read the report said it's staggering in its criminality and "explosive."

But really, even if nothing else came up (which there will) Trump asking a foreign country for help against a potential political rival in the 2020 election is something to get impeached for. It's not a "nothing burger", it's a crime. He's already admitted he did it, along wit Guiliani and changed his story on withholding military aid. He should be impeached, and frankly I'm already seeing cracks in the GOP. As we go down the road, I would not be surprised to see more say "Enough" of this criminal.