US Ambassador Testifies Trump Directly Tied Ukraine Funding to Biden Investigation

Authored by memorandumdaily.com and submitted by ma582

Ambassador Bill Taylor testified today that President Trump directly linked funding for Ukraine to an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.According to several people in the room, Mr. Taylor acknowledged that the President wanted an investigation into Mr. Biden, as well as a public statement from Ukraine that they were also investigating the company that Mr. Biden’s son worked for.Members of Congress who heard the testimony described it as “devastating for the President.” In his opening statement , “Taylor said that he and Sondland spoke by phone about why the aid was frozen, and Sondland cited the need for Ukraine to open an investigation among other reasons.”Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch described the testimony as “ a sea change ” in the investigation.“He drew a very direct line in a series of events,” explained Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz . “He described as being President Trump's decision to withhold funds and refuse a meeting with Zelensky unless there was a public pronouncement by him of investigations of Burisma.”: According to Ambassador Taylor’s opening statement, EU Ambassador Sondland specifically confirmed a quid pro quo: “During that phone call Ambassador Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US election.”: Read Ambassador Taylor's opening statement:

787787787 on October 22nd, 2019 at 22:10 UTC »

Lost in all of this is the wiping away of any pretense of looking for corruption. The aid and other benefits were not held up in exchange for an investigation of Burisma or the DNC server. They were held up in exchange for an announcement of an investigation. There was no desire to actually find any facts. They simply wanted the smear.

slakmehl on October 22nd, 2019 at 19:04 UTC »

This is, by far, the most damning testimony so far. Key developments just from Taylor's opening statement, which you can read here:

Sondland specifically referenced quid pro quo predicated on Ukraine investigating the Bidens.

“During that phone call Ambassador Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Urkainian interference in the 2016 US election.

Sondland said everything was dependent on these investigations, including not just a meeting, but military aid.

Sondland told Taylor he made a mistake earlier by telling the Ukrainian’s that a WH meeting with Zelensky “was dependent on a public announcement of the investigations.”

“In fact, Sondland said ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance.”

In fumbling around for any description that would not involve the literal words "quid pro quo", Sondland describes as crass a quid pro quo as could be imagined:

“Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. 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.”

Sondland was proactive in attempting to prevent the preservation of any evidence that might come out of communications with Zelenskyy.

"Ambassador Sondland said that he wanted to make sure nobody was transcribing or recording as they added President Zelensky to the call."

Taylor took detailed contemporaneous notes of everything, which Congress has not yet seen.

Mr. Taylor’s testimony was based in part on detailed notes that he took throughout his tenure, according to another person familiar with what he has told lawmakers. Mr. Taylor has shared his notes with the State Department but has not produced copies of them for lawmakers conducting the impeachment inquiry, the person said.

I guess now we know wy Mulvaney was resigned to just confessing the quid pro quo up front.

Full Context of Taylor's Interactions with Sondland

Taylor was the replacement for Masha Yovanovich, whom Trump personally removed as part of a quid pro quo with corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko (now confirmed by SDNY in the Parnas indictment) to open investigations that Trump wanted. This conspiracy fell apart when Zelenskyy was elected on an anticorruption platform and fired Lutsenko, necessitating Trump to pressure the new President directly.

Putting Taylor's testimony from today in context of existing known interactions with Sondland:

In August, Sondland told Republican Senator Ron Johnson explicitly that Ukrainian aid was dependent upon investigations desired by Trump.

In early September, Sondland had this exchange with Ukrainian ambassador Bill Taylor, according to text messages released by Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker:

[9/1/19, 12:08:57 PM] Bill Taylor: Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?

[9/1/19, 12:42:29 PM] Gordon Sondland: Call me

Taylor then talks to Sondland by phone, where Sondland indicates that aid is being withheld as a quid pro quo for investigations, which he believes are into the 2016 election and the company that employed Hunter Biden.

A week later, Taylor pressed the point:

[9/9/19, 12:47:11 AM] Bill Taylor: As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.

Sondland's testimony on the ensuing 4.5 hour gap in his texts with Taylor:

"On September 9, 2019, Acting Charge de Affairs/Ambassador William Taylor raised concerns about the possibility that Ukrainians could perceive a linkage between U.S. security assistance and the President’s 2020 reelection campaign."

"Taking the issue seriously, and given the many versions of speculation that had been circulating about the security aid, I called President Trump directly. I asked the President: “What do you want from Ukraine?” The President responded, “Nothing. There is no quid pro quo.” The President repeated: “no quid pro quo” multiple times. This was a very short call. And I recall the President was in a bad mood."

And his next text with Taylor:

[9/9/19, 5:19:35 AM] Gordon Sondland: Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign I suggest we stop the back and forth by text.

Captin_Communist on October 22nd, 2019 at 18:56 UTC »

Do we even need to talk about the whistle-blower anymore? We have the US Ambassador admitting that Trump made it clear the aid was quid pro quo for the investigation.