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riversedge

(69,728 posts)
Tue Oct 22, 2019, 02:52 PM Oct 2019

Top diplomat in Ukraine gave "damning" testimony, Democrats say -- live updates

Source: cbsnews




Updated on: October 22, 2019 / 2:27 PM / CBS News


Key facts and latest news

William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, is testifying before lawmakers behind closed doors. One congressman who heard the testimony called it "very troubling."
President Trump referred to the impeachment inquiry against him as a "lynching."
Russ Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), tweeted Monday morning that he and Mike Duffey, another top OMB official, will not comply with congressional requests for interviews.
On a July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Trump urged Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

Washington -- ............................................


William Taylor, the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Kiev, is a key witness in the investigation into the Trump administration's efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating the president's political rivals. In messages with other diplomats from August and September released earlier this month, Taylor raised concerns about the U.S. withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, saying it was "crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."

Democrats emerging from his deposition on Tuesday called his 15-page opening statement "very dramatic," "detailed" and "lengthy." Representative Andy Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, said the U.S. diplomat's account was "very troubling."

"All I have to say is that in my 10 short months in Congress -- it's not even noon, right? -- and this is my most disturbing day in Congress so far," Levin said.

Taylor, a career diplomat who was once the ambassador to Ukraine, emerged as a key figure in the scandal upon the release of messages he sent to Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, two other diplomats at the center of the controversy who have testified before the committees. The State Department tried to block Taylor's deposition on Tuesday, ................................

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/trump-impeachment-inquiry-latest-william-taylor-ukraine-testimony-2019-10-22/





Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch said after leaving the SCIF that Bill Taylor’s testimony “is a sea change.”

“This testimony is a sea change. I think it could accelerate matters,” he said. “This will, I think, answer more questions than it raises. Let’s put it that way.”



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12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Top diplomat in Ukraine gave "damning" testimony, Democrats say -- live updates (Original Post) riversedge Oct 2019 OP
Yup... Dennis Donovan Oct 2019 #1
Need to get Taylor testifying in public. Second hand reports of what he said is not enough. yellowcanine Oct 2019 #2
I sure would love to see (at least) his opening statement... hlthe2b Oct 2019 #4
Here you go! Someone took photos of his opening statement on a phone. Pacifist Patriot Oct 2019 #7
Damn! Thanks! hlthe2b Oct 2019 #8
Sounds like they have the goods on them. nt Cognitive_Resonance Oct 2019 #3
I'll wait till Gym Jordan weighs in. gibraltar72 Oct 2019 #5
lol dweller Oct 2019 #6
Some comments from his loon buddy Mark Meadows- BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #9
Here is a link to the opening statement (PDF) BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #10
Link to DW nitpicker Oct 2019 #11
Link to BBC nitpicker Oct 2019 #12

yellowcanine

(35,692 posts)
2. Need to get Taylor testifying in public. Second hand reports of what he said is not enough.
Tue Oct 22, 2019, 02:58 PM
Oct 2019

Too easy for Republicans to spin what he said behind closed doors.

hlthe2b

(101,730 posts)
4. I sure would love to see (at least) his opening statement...
Tue Oct 22, 2019, 02:59 PM
Oct 2019

I understand the issues, but damn, this is frustrating.

BumRushDaShow

(127,322 posts)
9. Some comments from his loon buddy Mark Meadows-
Tue Oct 22, 2019, 03:57 PM
Oct 2019
/snip

Republicans accused Democrats of exaggerating, but they declined to share details of the testimony.

“I don’t know that any of us, if we are being intellectually honest, are hearing revelations that we were not aware of,” said Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina. “The bottom line is no one has yet to make the case for why the aid was withheld or even if the Ukrainians knew about it.”

Still, by Democrats’ account, Mr. Taylor’s testimony provided the most extensive picture yet of the scope of the president’s effort to pressure Ukraine and the players who were involved in the effort on Mr. Trump’s behalf.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/trump-impeachment-ukraine.html


Goal post change! Must have been pretty bad.

According to the NYT, this guy come in there with his contemporaneous notes -

/snip

The testimony drew what one lawmaker described as a “direct line” between American foreign policy and his own political goals.

In testimony that Democrats in attendance called the most damaging account yet for the president, Mr. Taylor provided an “excruciatingly detailed” opening statement that described the quid-pro-quo pressure campaign that Mr. Trump and his allies have been denying.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida, who sat in on the deposition as a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said that Mr. Taylor relied in part on detailed “notes to the file” that he had made as he watched the pressure campaign unfold. His testimony shed new light on the circumstances around a previously revealed text message in which Mr. Taylor wrote to colleagues that he thought it was “crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/trump-impeachment-ukraine.html

nitpicker

(7,153 posts)
12. Link to BBC
Wed Oct 23, 2019, 03:23 AM
Oct 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50147223

Trump impeachment: US envoy condemns 'irregular' pressure on Ukraine

2 hours ago
(snip)

"Our relationship with Ukraine was being fundamentally undermined by an irregular, informal channel of US, policy-making and by the withholding of vital security assistance for domestic political reasons," Mr Taylor said in opening remarks carried by US media.

The "informal" channel included US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
(snip)
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