William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, testified last month to lawmakers in the House impeachment proceedings that Ukraine’s government had serious problems with corruption.
“It’s a big issue,” Taylor, a career diplomat who has served in multiple administrations, told lawmakers. “And it’s particularly a big issue today with this new administration.”
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Taylor’s comments may serve to reinforce the Trump administration’s defense in the impeachment proceedings, which is examining whether Trump tried to make critical security aid conditional on Ukraine government officials agreeing to investigate 2016 election interference by Democrats and former Vice President Joe Biden, who is now running for president.
[READ: Closed-door testimony from William Taylor, top US diplomat in Ukraine]
Trump administration officials have argued the president wanted newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pledge to end corruption and to investigate allegations against Biden acting to get a prosecutor fired who was targeting gas company that employed his son, Hunter Biden.
Democrats are on a trajectory to impeach Trump for seeking Ukraine’s help digging up dirt on Biden, a top political opponent in his 2020 reelection bid, and Taylor is a star witness.
Taylor testified to his concerns that the president sought help investigating Biden in exchange for providing Ukraine with critical security aid.
Republicans who cross-examined Taylor got him to acknowledge Ukraine’s deeply embedded corruption that the Trump administration said was the source of aid holdup.
Taylor told lawmakers in the closed-door deposition his concern with Zelensky’s new administration “is the influence of oligarchs.”
Lawmakers then asked Taylor if he is aware that Burisma, the gas company that paid Hunter Biden a significant income to serve on its board, has been under investigation for money laundering, tax evasion, and other crimes.
“I am familiar with that generally,” Taylor told the panel.
Taylor described the integrity of Ukraine’s criminal justice system as “flawed” and acknowledged blocked investigations into some corrupt companies, including Burisma, “could have been closed for payments.”
“So, inherently, the interest of somebody in the United States of wanting Ukraine to get to the bottom of corruption is not a problem, right?” a Republican lawmaker asked Taylor during the deposition.
“We have long made it … clear to the Ukrainian governments over time that their ability to integrate into Europe and succeed in that goal was challenged by, was threatened by, a lack of credible rule of law, which included courts, investigations,” Taylor told lawmakers. “So yes, that’s been a constant theme of U.S. policy toward Ukraine.”
