Testimony of Bill Taylor, named charge d’affaires in Ukraine after Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was recalled, is out: docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG…
Taylor says he was weary of taking the job because “there was — I think I put it — a snake pit in Kyiv and a snake pit here [DC],” referring in part to the campaign against Yovanovitch.
Taylor says Sondland had contact with Giuliani (Sondland said he had none) and says he hardly talked to Rick Perry (Sondland, in contrast, talked to him all the time) 
We’re just like a couple pages in and already Taylor is contradicting the picture Sondland laid out. Says Sondland said as early as June 27 that Zelensky had to make clear to Trump his stance on “investigations”
We’re just like a couple pages in and already Taylor is completely contradicting the picture Sondland laid out. Says Sondland said as early as June 27 that Zelensky had to make clear to Trump his stance on “investigations”
Taylor says he knew very early on that Giuliani/Trump were seeking investigations into Burisma/Bidens. Sondland’s response to the same question was, and I quote: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In their first chunk of questioning, Republicans focus on the 2017 Politico story that @broderick looks at here buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanha…
Taylor says he hasn’t seen the story before and because it’s a legit outlet and legit reporter takes it at face value (when in fact, imo, it is very poorly framed)
(Like, history would literally be unfolding differently if certain reporters actually understood Ukraine.)
Taylor says Volker is a “man of integrity” and then adds a but and the but is Giuliani
As he did with Sondland, Nunes connects the Steele dossier to Ukraine (????)
(In general, so far my analysis is: Taylor’s opening statement was incredibly thorough and has been out for some time, making a lot of this testimony not as explosive/new as previous testimony.)
Taylor, asked to comment on “quid pro quo,” says “I don’t speak Latin.” Same.
Taylor talks about convening a meeting about the Ukraine aid issue and says it was in part hard to schedule because it came around the time Trump toyed with buying Greenland!!!
Remember when Trump wanted to buy Greenland?!?! How many years ago was that.
Taylor says the Ukrainians never asked him about Giuliani’s role…
Bolton was opposed to holding a Trump-Zelensky call because “he thought it was going to be a disaster” and “that there could be some talk of investigations or worse,” Taylor says
Republicans focus on the Ukrainians not knowing what was up at the time of the July 25 call but Taylor notes it was a July 20 talk with a Ukrainian official that made him realize they were concerned about being used as pawns in US domestic politics
Wow there were political correctness meetings about military aid to Ukraine too
(To be safe I’m just gonna throw it out there that this is a joke.)
When Taylor sent a cable to Pompeo registering his concern over what was going on with Ukraine policy, he got support from someone in the State Dept and total silence from leadership
A GOP staffer asks Taylor if the whistleblower name that’s been going around rightwing media “ring[s] a bell for you.” (He says “it doesn’t.”)
A succinct graf from Taylor that sums up the basics: if you say “no quid pro quo” and then undertake actions that are an actual quid pro quo, it is still a quid pro quo
lol
Safe to guess this redacted name is Motor Sich, which the WSJ reported yesterday Erik Prince is in talks to buy (Taylor is explaining why he had so many conversations with Tim Morrison and other NSC staff)
Er, Ted Lieu, after praising Taylor for jumping “out of perfectly fine airplanes” in Vietnam, asks Taylor if he thinks Sondland was drunk???
And guess that’s how we’ll end this thing.
