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Ambassador Bill Taylor Full Opening Statement
Axios ^

Posted on 10/23/2019 7:10:43 AM PDT by Taipei

Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, told House investigators on Tuesday that President Trump conditioned the release of military aid on the Ukrainian president's willingness to promise to investigate natural gas company Burisma and alleged interference in the 2016 election, according to a copy of Taylor's opening statement obtained by Axios.

Key excerpts:

"[On Sept. 1], Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling the Ukrainian officials to whom he spoke that a White House meeting with President Zelenskyy was dependent on a public announcement of investigations—in fact, Ambassador Sondland said, 'everything' was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelenskyy 'in a public box' by making a public statement about ordering such investigations."

"[O]n September 8, Ambassador Sondland ... said he had talked to President Trump as I had suggested a week earlier, but that President Trump was adamant that President Zelenskyy, himself, had to 'clear things up and do it in public.' President Trump said it was not a 'quid pro quo.'"

The entirety of the statement is available at the link

(Excerpt) Read more at axios.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coup; hearsay; taylor; trump; trumpukraine; ukraine
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To: MarvinStinson

This guy is like a 12 year old girl. He has no business in foreign service, he has no judgement.

This whole thing is the congressional version of mean girls gossip.


41 posted on 10/23/2019 8:25:41 AM PDT by McGavin999
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To: OJDIDIT2
Could this guy be the whistleblower?

He's probably an original conspirator, helping dream it up. He undoubtedly has a ton of deep state friends.

My view is the whistleblower is a real CIA employee who agreed to it, or volunteered, and is willing to take a few million dollar book deal for the team. My view will be tested pretty soon. To get the book deal they will have to build up a mythology and maybe have dramatic secret testimony from a secret remote location with voice altering.

42 posted on 10/23/2019 8:29:23 AM PDT by palmer (Democracy Dies Six Ways to Sunday)
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To: Agatsu77

Exactly. Who leaked the opening statement.


43 posted on 10/23/2019 9:03:51 AM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: Taipei

reply to: Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, told House investigators

He did not tell house investigators...there were NO representatives from the repubs - this is a GD farce and the news media is a f’king lie for reporting this way! It is an open air ‘coup’ going on and I am sick and tired of this sh*t repubs! FIGHT THIS now or we will in the str**ts!


44 posted on 10/23/2019 9:05:12 AM PDT by ldish (Have had enough...you??????)
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To: Parley Baer

According to Nunes, John Ratcliff tore this guy apart on cross examination. Bottom line there was no quid pro quo and the best this clown had was 2nd information. The rest was 3rd and 4th hand.


45 posted on 10/23/2019 9:06:21 AM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: thirst4truth

Lindsey will not call these people to the Senate BECAUSE he himself is involved in this up to his eyeballs!!!


46 posted on 10/23/2019 9:08:26 AM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: Taipei
I don't see where he said that Trump withheld money for an investigation into Biden or his son. All I see is Trump asking for an investigation into Burisma, and election interference. I just searched the whole article, and the only place "Biden" shows up is in the title, and a mention in a sentence written by whoever wrote the article: "investigations into Burisma — on whose board Joe Biden's son served."

Where's the smoking gun? Oh, I know, it's whatever the Dems read into that statement.

47 posted on 10/23/2019 9:16:12 AM PDT by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne)
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To: Parley Baer

Witnesses frequently release their opening statements to Congressional committees ahead of time.

Public hearings consist of questions and answers negotiated ahead of time with little straying from the script allowed. Sounds like this closed hearing was the same.

These are just shows for the rubes.


48 posted on 10/23/2019 9:19:23 AM PDT by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: butlerweave
"Tell us what was going on when Obama was President"

Oh, don't you know, you're not allowed to bring up what happened in a Democrat administration, because "they're not in office now." That's the standard line liberals use when you refer to the same thing, or worse that happened in a Democrat administration.

49 posted on 10/23/2019 9:20:10 AM PDT by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

Not to a LOT of other people who aren’t so bright.

To FR folks yes. But that doesn’t help.

We knew that already.


50 posted on 10/23/2019 9:24:33 AM PDT by dp0622 (Radicals, racists Don't point fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin' to make ends meet)
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To: Taipei

A little about Taylor...

As a civilian he served as Director of Emergency Preparedness Policy in the Department of Energy before serving for five years as Legislative Assistant on the staff of U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (D-N.J.).

Another left-wing hack holdover protecting the Deep State.


51 posted on 10/23/2019 9:25:43 AM PDT by larryleo
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To: Rdct29

Until and unless our domestic enemies are brought to justice, they will keep doubling down against us and will be happy to wait until 2026 to come after us.


52 posted on 10/23/2019 9:47:28 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: McGavin999

Taylor had a questionable reputation when he worked in Iraq following the US occupation.


53 posted on 10/23/2019 9:59:28 AM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: Bookshelf

So who is recommending these people? Pompeo needs to clean house.


54 posted on 10/23/2019 3:15:14 PM PDT by McGavin999
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To: Taipei

Could we see the whole testimony. No? Why not?


55 posted on 10/23/2019 3:33:15 PM PDT by McCarthysGhost
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To: MNJohnnie

“perjured himself”

Was he even under oath?


56 posted on 10/23/2019 3:49:49 PM PDT by ReaganGeneration2
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To: Parley Baer

I was hoping to verify this, but I don’t see anything like what I heard about the Ratcliff incident.

I heard Ratcliff asked Taylor if there was ONE person, who he (Taylor) could point to who can claim that there actually was quid pro quo. And Taylor said:

“NO”

As far as I am concerned this is over. If this traitorous, hateful, back-stabber had NO SOURCE, it’s OVER.


57 posted on 10/23/2019 4:22:56 PM PDT by Maris Crane
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To: KobraKai
I just don't understand. The United States sends money to foreign nations. Why? Because they have something we want, or they do something that furthers our national interests. We are allies. We need need them to counterbalance one of our rivals. We want to foster peace, American economic interests, etc. Isn't all foreign aid a quid pro quo? Hasn't it always been? Its one way we (and every other powerful country) flexes it's muscles. If one of our national interests is to ferret out corruption by American officials, and getting foreign countries to help us...isn't this a GOOD thing? Why does it only become wrong when Donald Trump does it?

Geez...Joe Biden was using foreign aid to foster corruption. Using the worst interpretation of this, Donald Trump was using foreign aid to investigate corruption. Up is down, black is white, Alice is seeking refuge in Wonderland from all of this.

58 posted on 10/23/2019 5:52:19 PM PDT by fhayek
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To: Taipei

these people all have too much time on their hands. reduce the state dept by about 75%. delayer about 5 levels of he and she saids in the matter. Focus returns to the organization after a year of weeping.


59 posted on 10/23/2019 6:03:27 PM PDT by kvanbrunt2 (spooks won on day 76)
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To: McGavin999

The State Department is a self-perpetuating aristocracy. You eat s... for ten years and by then you have either made your bones or your out. From then on you can make underlings east s... as long as you are around. They infiltrate Washington: Its thinktanks, its congressional committees, its lawfirms. The problem Trump had was that he had no Washington insiders working for him, or Washington people he could trust. Thus he was surrounded by Quislings. You will note that his economic team survives almost intact; they are all individuals who have been around the New York scene for years, and thhy know the ins and outs of the economy as it is practiced by the private sector. He can trust those people, and they have lasted longest among those who take part in the presidency. Trump includes CIA, State or military at how own peril.


60 posted on 10/23/2019 6:15:33 PM PDT by Bookshelf
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