Ex-U.S. ambassador testifies in inquiry
WASHINGTON • A top U.S. diplomat in Kyiv said President Donald Trump made nearly $400 million in aid contingent on the Ukrainian president investigating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, in testimony that shed new light on the central question facing the impeachment inquiry.
Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said Tuesday that he grew concerned about dual channels through which the Trump administration was conducting foreign policy toward Kyiv — one through the State Department and the other involving Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer — and became even more alarmed when the president in July directed aid to Ukraine be put on hold.
He was later told that if Ukraine didn’t announce the two investigations, Trump would neither release the aid nor agree to a White House meeting with the Ukrainian president.
Taylor said he later learned, from the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, that Trump wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce he was opening two investigations: into Burisma Group, a Ukrainian gas company where Biden’s son Hunter was a board member, and into alleged Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
According to Taylor’s prepared testimony to the closed hearing, a copy of which was obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Sondland told him that “‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement” — both a White House meeting, which Zelensky had sought for months, and the release of the aid.
“He said that President Trump wanted President Zelensky ‘in a public box’ by making a public statement about ordering such investigations,” Taylor told House committees in a closed session, according to the testimony.
Trump has defended his actions regarding Ukraine as “perfect” and has called the inquiry a “hoax.”
He has repeatedly denied that aid for Ukraine was contingent on Kyiv opening new probes.
Ambassador William Taylor is escorted by U.S. Capitol Police as he arrives Tuesday to testify before House committees.