Acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor reportedly told House investigators there appeared to be a direct tie between the United States withholding military aid and President Trump pushing for the country to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 presidential election.
Taylor testified behind closed doors Tuesday that he was told “everything,” including military aid, was contingent upon a public announcement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that his country would investigate alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election and Burisma Holdings, an energy company that had Joe Biden’s son Hunter on the board, according to the Washington Post.
He also detailed for investigators a call with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
“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 election,” Taylor testified in his opening statement.
“Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling the Ukrainian officials to whom he spoke that a White House meeting with President Zelensky was dependent on a public announcement of investigations — in fact, Ambassador Sondland said, ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance,” Taylor said Tuesday during the closed-door hearing.
Taylor texted Sondland on Sept. 1, asking, “Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?”
Sondland responded “call me” minutes later. Eight days later, Taylor called for the withholding of aid for political purposes his “nightmare scenario.”
“As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” Taylor said.
“Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions,” Sondland texted back. “The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind.”
Taylor reportedly said that Trump wanted Zelensky “in a public box” by making a statement about the investigations.
This contradicts testimony by Sondland and U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker. Sondland and Volker testified they were unaware of Giuliani’s efforts to pressure Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. But Giuliani’s public advocacy of a Ukrainian investigation into the Bidens, including Hunter Biden’s $50,000-per-month position on the board of Burisma, had been widely reported before a White House meeting on May 23 with Sondland, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Volker where Trump directed the officials to work with Giuliani, his personal attorney.
Both Sondland and Volker distanced themselves from the controversial July phone call between Trump and Zelensky in which Trump asked for a “favor” from Ukraine, urged Zelensky to look into a CrowdStrike conspiracy theory and any Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election, and suggested the Ukrainians investigate allegations of corruption related to the Bidens, and each has said they didn’t realize the calls to investigate Burisma were about the Bidens.
Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida said Tuesday that Taylor provided “the most damning testimony I’ve heard.”
