This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/politics/william-taylor-ukraine-impeachment-testimony.html
The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Impeachment Inquiry Transcripts: Key Excerpts From William Taylor’s Testimony | Impeachment Inquiry Transcripts: Key Excerpts From William Taylor’s Testimony |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| WASHINGTON — The House committees leading the impeachment inquiry released a transcript on Wednesday from a closed-door deposition of a figure central to the investigation as the proceedings move to a more public phase. The first public hearings are scheduled for next week. | WASHINGTON — The House committees leading the impeachment inquiry released a transcript on Wednesday from a closed-door deposition of a figure central to the investigation as the proceedings move to a more public phase. The first public hearings are scheduled for next week. |
| The witness testimony, from William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, provided one of the most vivid accounts about the actions at the heart of the inquiry. Much of that was detailed in his opening remarks on Oct. 22, including his explicit understanding that there was a quid pro quo linking military aid for Ukraine to investigating President Trump’s political rivals. | |
| Page 260-261: “I think the origin of the idea to get President Zelensky to say out loud he’s going to investigate Burisma and 2016 election, I think the originator, the person who came up with that was Mr. Giuliani.” | Page 260-261: “I think the origin of the idea to get President Zelensky to say out loud he’s going to investigate Burisma and 2016 election, I think the originator, the person who came up with that was Mr. Giuliani.” |
| According to Mr. Taylor, it was Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, who devised the plan for Ukraine officials to publicly commit to beginning investigations. Under questioning, Mr. Taylor also made clear that Mr. Giuliani was representing the interests of Mr. Trump. — Lara Jakes | |
| Page 209-210: “‘The nightmare’ is the scenario where President Zelensky goes out in public, makes an announcement that he’s going to investigate Burisma and the election in 2016, interference in 2016 election, maybe among other things. He might put that in some series of investigations.” | |
| “‘The nightmare was he would mention those two, take all the heat from that, get himself in big trouble in this country and probably in his country as well, and the security assistance would not be released. That was the nightmare. The Russians loving it. The Russians are paying attention. The Russians are paying attention to how much support the Americans are going to provide the Ukrainians.” | |
| By Mr. Taylor’s account, in early September, he believed the worst-case scenario of Mr. Zelensky publicly promising investigations into the Mr. Trump’s poitical rivals would be if Russia were to benefit from quaking relations between the United States and Ukraine. Mr. Taylor had used the term “nightmare” in text message to others, but investigators asked him for further explanation. He added that he previously told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he would defend America’s support of Ukraine, but if the policy changed, he would quit. Mr. Taylor has yet to resign.— Eileen Sullivan | |
| Page 164: “When Ambassador Sondland raised investigations in the meeting, that triggered Ambassador Bolton’s antenna, political antenna, and he said, ‘we don’t do politics here.’ | Page 164: “When Ambassador Sondland raised investigations in the meeting, that triggered Ambassador Bolton’s antenna, political antenna, and he said, ‘we don’t do politics here.’ |
| Mr. Taylor recounted to impeachment investigators how John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser at the time, suddenly ended a July 10 meeting with American and Ukrainian officials when Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, turned the discussion to investigations that Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani wanted the Ukrainians to pursue. Mr. Taylor said that he was not at the meeting, but he heard accounts from two people who were. At the time, Mr. Taylor was just weeks into his new job as the top diplomat in Ukraine, a position he hesitated to accept because of the circumstances around his predecessor’s removal.— Eileen Sullivan | Mr. Taylor recounted to impeachment investigators how John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser at the time, suddenly ended a July 10 meeting with American and Ukrainian officials when Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, turned the discussion to investigations that Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani wanted the Ukrainians to pursue. Mr. Taylor said that he was not at the meeting, but he heard accounts from two people who were. At the time, Mr. Taylor was just weeks into his new job as the top diplomat in Ukraine, a position he hesitated to accept because of the circumstances around his predecessor’s removal.— Eileen Sullivan |
| Page 45-46: “I’ve always kept careful notes, and I keep a little notebook where I take notes on conversations, in particular when I’m not in the office. So, in meetings with Ukrainian officials or when I’m out and I get a phone call and I can — I keep notes.” | Page 45-46: “I’ve always kept careful notes, and I keep a little notebook where I take notes on conversations, in particular when I’m not in the office. So, in meetings with Ukrainian officials or when I’m out and I get a phone call and I can — I keep notes.” |
| Later saying, “Handwritten notes that I take on a small, little spiral notebook in my office of phone calls that take place in my office.” | Later saying, “Handwritten notes that I take on a small, little spiral notebook in my office of phone calls that take place in my office.” |
| Mr. Taylor has become one of the star witnesses for the Democratic-led impeachment effort, appearing first in public hearings that will begin next week. That is partly because in his closed-door testimony, Mr. Taylor referred repeatedly to notes and memos, bolstering investigators’ confidence in his recollections. Those documents could provide new and potentially explosive avenues of investigation for Democrats as they march toward writing articles of impeachment.— Michael D. Shear | Mr. Taylor has become one of the star witnesses for the Democratic-led impeachment effort, appearing first in public hearings that will begin next week. That is partly because in his closed-door testimony, Mr. Taylor referred repeatedly to notes and memos, bolstering investigators’ confidence in his recollections. Those documents could provide new and potentially explosive avenues of investigation for Democrats as they march toward writing articles of impeachment.— Michael D. Shear |
| Page 102: “What the embassy tries to do, as a general rule, is stay out of either our domestic or Ukraine internal politics. So we have not we have tried to avoid dealing certainly with Mr. Giuliani and the kind of efforts that he was interested in. So that’s, again, for we don’t get involved in election campaigns on either side.” | |
| Mr. Giuliani’s Ukraine campaign appeared to be viewed as a matter of American domestic politics from the moment Mr. Taylor arrived in Ukraine. During his deposition, the Republican counsel for the House investigators asked Mr. Taylor if he knew about the concerns “folks aligned with the president” had about Ukrainian influence in the 2016 election. Mr. Taylor repeatedly expressed disappointment about Ukrainians taking sides in American politics and said he similarly advised his diplomats to avoid dealing with Mr. Giuliani. The comment also shows the tightrope Mr. Taylor walks in his post in the embassy in Ukraine.— Julian E. Barnes | |
| Page 109 “I didn’t think it was a problem in the beginning. And, actually, it could have been helpful, because Ambassador Sondland is able is able to call the president, and that’s a valuable thing, if you want to try to move our U.S.-Ukraine relations.” | |
| The shadow foreign policy run by Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Sondland and Kurt D. Volker, the special envoy on Ukraine, has been at the heart of the Ukraine foreign policy. In his testimony, Mr. Taylor makes clear that when he first arrived in Kiev, he thought the high-level interest by people who have Mr. Trump’s ear might actually improve relations. But Mr. Taylor’s view quickly changed and he testified that “the Giuliani factor” affected Mr. Volker, diverting his focus away from the most important issues involving Ukraine.— Julian E. Barnes | |
| Page 285: “There was some discomfort within the State Department with Ambassador Sondland’s role in Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine is not in the E.U. But it was well known that, in that famous May 23rd meeting in the Oval Office, that Ambassador Sondland was given direction, with Secretary Perry and Ambassador Volker, to focus on Ukraine, to do something with regard to Ukraine policy.” | |
| Mr. Taylor described discomfort at the State Department regarding Mr. Sondland serving as a go-between for the Ukrainian government and the White House. Fiona Hill, Mr. Trump’s former adviser on Russia and Europe, had also feared that his inexperience would make him a vulnerable target for foreign spies. — Lara Jakes |