Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Diplomat who raised alarm about withholding aid to Ukraine testifies in impeachment probe
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/diplomat-who-raised-alarm-about-withholding-aid-to-ukraine-testifies-in-impeachment-probe/2019/10/22/086fb850-f436-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html
In this July 27 photo, Ambassador William Taylor speaks during a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Inna Sokolovska/AP)
By Anne Gearan
Oct. 22, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. EDT
House committees leading the impeachment inquiry of President Trump are hearing from a senior diplomat who raised alarms about what Democrats have called a clear quid pro quo in which Trump held up military aid for Ukraine to get that country’s help investigating his political rivals.
William B. Taylor Jr. is the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, whose president is at the center of the impeachment inquiry. Taylor took the job on temporary assignment earlier this year after the sitting ambassador was removed, in what she told the committees was political retaliation by the Trump administration.
Taylor, a retired former ambassador to Ukraine and a foreign policy elder statesman, had exchanged text messages with two other diplomats in which he called it “crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign” and a “nightmare scenario.”
His testimony may fill in some blanks about the activities of U.S. officials who appear to have sought Ukrainian help at the behest of Trump and his personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani Jr., although it was not clear how much Taylor knew.
Taylor agreed to go to Kyiv as a placeholder ambassador because he thought the U.S.-Ukraine relationship was at a critical moment following the election last spring of President Volodymyr Zelensky, other diplomats said. He also told friends he worried that the relationship would drift after the forced recall of former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, and he made it clear within the State Department that he objected to her treatment, current and former administration officials said.
</snip>
In this July 27 photo, Ambassador William Taylor speaks during a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Inna Sokolovska/AP)
By Anne Gearan
Oct. 22, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. EDT
House committees leading the impeachment inquiry of President Trump are hearing from a senior diplomat who raised alarms about what Democrats have called a clear quid pro quo in which Trump held up military aid for Ukraine to get that country’s help investigating his political rivals.
William B. Taylor Jr. is the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, whose president is at the center of the impeachment inquiry. Taylor took the job on temporary assignment earlier this year after the sitting ambassador was removed, in what she told the committees was political retaliation by the Trump administration.
Taylor, a retired former ambassador to Ukraine and a foreign policy elder statesman, had exchanged text messages with two other diplomats in which he called it “crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign” and a “nightmare scenario.”
His testimony may fill in some blanks about the activities of U.S. officials who appear to have sought Ukrainian help at the behest of Trump and his personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani Jr., although it was not clear how much Taylor knew.
Taylor agreed to go to Kyiv as a placeholder ambassador because he thought the U.S.-Ukraine relationship was at a critical moment following the election last spring of President Volodymyr Zelensky, other diplomats said. He also told friends he worried that the relationship would drift after the forced recall of former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, and he made it clear within the State Department that he objected to her treatment, current and former administration officials said.
</snip>
This guy is NO trumper!
