U.S. ambassador testifies Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Bidens

William Taylor, Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine,
testified on Oct. 22 to the U.S. House committee investigating the impeachment
of U.S. President Donald Trump, offering evidence directly tying the scandalous
leader to a quid pro quo with Ukraine. Taylor confirmed accusations against
Trump that he sought to withhold critical military aid to Ukraine and refuse a
White House meeting with President Zelensky unless he pursued investigations of
the business dealings of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son
Hunter, the politico.com news site reported, citing the veteran diplomat’s
prepared remarks and his responses to questions as described by sources in the
room for the closed-door testimony.

Taylor testified that U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon
Sondland told him that “everything” – including military assistance to Ukraine
and a meeting between Trump and Zelensky – was contingent on the Ukrainians
publicly announcing investigations into the Bidens, among Trump’s political
opponents. He told impeachment investigators that a White House budget official
said on a secure phone call in July that Trump had personally directed that the
military aid be withheld. Taylor also testified that Sondland said Trump
personally told him that he wanted Ukraine to “state publicly” that it would
open such probes before the U.S. would release the aid. “Ambassador Sondland
tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman,” Taylor said.
“When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something,
he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check.”

Taylor’s 15-page opening statement, leaked to numerous
websites including washingtonpost.com, was characterized by Democratic Rep. Tom
Malinowski as “the most thorough accounting we’ve had of the timeline” of Trump’s
alleged attempts to pressure the Ukrainian government. “I’ll tell you, as a
former State Department political appointee, in my experience the difference
between career folks and political appointees is the career folks take very
good notes,” Malinowski said, hinting that Taylor provided corroboration to
back up his recollections.

Taylor’s testimony has proven more valuable to
investigators than what was offered by former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie
Yovanovitch, who testified to the same committee on Oct. 11. Her testimony
didn’t reveal new details about Trump’s pressure campaign to persuade Zelensky
to investigate the Bidens, the washingtonpost.com reported. Nine hours of
questioning didn’t either because of her limited visibility of what Trump and
his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani were doing behind the scenes, some
Democrats said after leaving the secure room where her deposition occurred.

Taylor, Jr. had served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
between June 2006 and May 2009. He returned as charge d’affaires ad interim on
June 2019 after Yovanovitch was pressured to leave her post in May 2019. She
began her tenure as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in August 2016.

Zenon Zawada: Taylor’s
testimony adds to the certainty that the Democrat-controlled House of
Representatives will impeach Trump this year for his dealings in Ukraine. We
also share the view that the Republican-controlled Senate won’t convict Trump
of the criminal charges. What this means for Ukraine is that Trump will have
difficulty in getting Congress to approve a new ambassador to Ukraine, which
means the acting ambassador Taylor – who has demonstrated a particular affinity
for the Ukrainian cause – will remain in place indefinitely.

One aspect to Taylor’s testimony that deserves closer
attention is the U.S. ambassador’s assertion that Ukraine’s success in
defending against Russian military aggression “counted on” U.S. foreign aid,
including finances, training and weapons. Therefore, Taylor is admitting the
Ukrainians would have lost this conflict if not for U.S. aid, just as the
Donbas fighters would have folded in 2014 if not for Russian backing. In
essence, Taylor has confirmed that the two sides in the war in Donbas are
essentially proxies for American and Russian geopolitical interests.