Former U.S. Ambassador William Taylor defended other career officials who testified in the House’s impeachment proceedings and admonished President Trump for attacking them.
Taylor, who also testified in front of the House Intelligence Committee in November, stood up for both Marie Yovanovitch and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
He said, “Anyone unfairly attacked, it bothers [me],” after he was asked about recent attacks from Republicans, including Trump. He went on to characterize the attacks as “unconscionable.”
The president recently said he was unhappy with Vindman, whose lawyers say he was asked to leave the White House’s National Security Council.
“You think I’m supposed to be happy with him? I’m not,” Trump said to reporters on Friday, adding that “they’ll make that decision. You’ll be hearing. They’ll make a decision.”
Taylor, who accused the president of trying to arrange a quid pro quo agreement with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, also said that the testimony from the other witnesses supports his version of events.
He said in his first interview since his testimony that his version of events “turn[ed] out to have been corroborated by most of the other witnesses.” He continued, “Indeed, it seems to me that there’s not really a question about the facts of the case. And so that made what I said not controversial. It was pretty straightforward.”
