Republicans uneasy after damning testimony about Trump and Ukraine aid
THE second most senior Republican in the US Senate yesterday expressed disquiet about new bombshell testimony claiming Donald Trump made aid to Ukraine conditional on an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden.
John Thune, the Senate Republican whip, told reporters that the picture painted by America’s top Ukraine diplomat before the impeachment inquiry was “not a good one”.
The testimony in question, given by William Taylor, a US diplomat, on Tuesday, had left Democrats declaring a “sea change” in their impeachment investigation and put Republicans on the back foot.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on articles of impeachment before Christmas, though no date has been announced. If passed, then it moves to the Senate.
Sixty-seven of the 100 senators would need to vote to remove the US president for him to be deposed. There are 47 Democrats and two independents, meaning at least 20 Republicans would need to rebel.
Mr Taylor, who was made chargé d’affaires in the Ukraine embassy in July, delivered an explosive opening statement that contradicted Mr Trump’s claim there was no “quid pro quo” between pausing almost $400 million (£310million) in aid to Ukraine and demanding the country launch politically helpful probes.
Mr Taylor said he was told “everything”, including the release of the military aid, was dependent on the Ukrainians announcing the investigations Mr Trump was seeking.
One probe would have been into the company Burisma, which had employed Hunter Biden, Mr Biden’s son, and the other was into Ukraine’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
Mr Taylor testified that Gordon Sondland, America’s EU ambassador and a former Trump donor, had told him Mr Trump wanted the Ukrainian president to personally announce the probes so that he was “in a public box”.
Mr Taylor said Mr Sondland explained the stance by noting Mr Trump’s corporate past. “When a businessman is about to sign a cheque to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the cheque,” Mr Taylor recalled.
Mr Taylor spoke behind closed doors but his 15-page opening statement was obtained by US media outlets.
Some Democrats said the testimony was the “most damning” yet of the impeachment inquiry.
Republicans on Capitol Hill who have largely stayed silent on the substance of the inquiry intensified their criticism of the process. It is being led by three committees in the House that are made up from both parties, but the Democrats hold the majority.
Around two dozen Republican congressmen tried to storm a secure room where the committees leading the impeachment inquiry were due to hear another witness. Republicans accused Democrats of pursuing a “Soviet-style impeachment process” and carrying out a “political hit job on the president”.
Mr Thune told reporters: “The picture coming out of it based on the reporting we’ve seen is, yeah, I would say it’s not a good one.”
It is not known how Mr Sondland, whose alleged comments were quoted by Mr Taylor, responded to the testimony. He may be called back to the inquiry to answer more questions. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, said: “President Trump has done nothing wrong – this is a coordinated smear campaign from farleft law-makers and radical, unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution. There was no quid pro quo.”
‘The picture coming out of it based on the reporting we’ve seen is, yeah, I would say it’s not a good one’