Donald hanged himself

Yesterday, Donald Trump called Democrats’ attempts to get to the bottom of his efforts to strong-arm Ukraine into investigating his political opponents “a lynching.” Also yesterday, a West Point graduate who has served his country ably for a half-century gave House investigators more rope by which the president has already hanged himself.

Ambassador William Taylor systematically detailed how Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Trump donor turned European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland conspired to freeze aid to Ukraine — with plans to thaw it if and only if President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a public commitment to investigate Democrats, including the company for which Joe Biden’s son Hunter worked. His words are more damning than any we could write (these are a few choice excerpts; read the whole thing):

When Taylor learned Trump and his budget office had ordered a hold on the aid: “I and others sat in astonishment…In an instant,

I realized that one of the key pillars of our strong support for Ukraine was threatened. Their irregular policy channel was running contrary to goals of longstanding U.S. policy….”

“President Trump did insist that President Zelensky go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of Biden and 2016 election interference, and that President Zelensky should want to do this himself….”

“In fact, Ambassador Sondland said, ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelensky ‘in a public box’ by making a public statement about ordering such investigations….”

“Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check.”

A businessman. Not a president.