House

US diplomat William Taylor willing to testify publicly: report

by Marty Johnson - 10/30/19 2:45 PM ET

William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, would reportedly be willing to testify publicly, sources close to the matter told CNN.

The House is set to vote on a resolution formalizing impeachment inquiry procedures on Thursday. If the resolution passes, Taylor could possibly be one of the first witnesses House Democrats publicly interview.

{mosads}There hasn’t been a formal request from House Democrats for Taylor to testify, but many view Taylor as a logical first choice, the network reports.

In his recent closed-door testimony to House investigators, Taylor gave a scrupulously documented account of how he believed that the withholding of promised aid to Ukraine by the White House was correlated to President Trump wanting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly announce that he would investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

Taylor’s 15-page opening statement, part of the detailed documentation, contained some of the most damning evidence against the president to date, according to Democrats.

“Without question the most powerful testimony we’ve heard,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), who sits on the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

“This testimony is a sea change. I think it could accelerate matters,” Lynch continued. “This will, I think, answer more questions than it raises.”

Taylor told House members “according to Mr. Morrison (head of the White House National Security Council’s Eurasia desk), President Trump told Ambassador Sondland that he was not asking for a ‘quid pro quo.'”

“But 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.”

However, Taylor wouldn’t explicitly say that Trump had laid out a quid pro quo.

When asked by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Taylor reportedly answered, “I don’t speak Latin.”

Since Taylor’s hearing, House Republicans have continuously pointed out the fact that Taylor didn’t interact directly with Trump.

“A lot of that information is based off of second-, third- and even fourth-hand information,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) told CNN.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who was in the closed-door hearing as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, reportedly says he isn’t worried about if the testimonies, including Taylor’s, happen publicly.

“Most of this is opinion,” Perry noted.

“These people have diverging opinions — that’s their right to have it. But quite honestly, the President is within his rights to do any of these things,” he continued.

Schiff declined to comment on which particular witnesses House Democrats will call if Thursday’s resolution passes, but he did say it is possible for hearings to start before Thanksgiving.

The Hill has reached out to Taylor’s lawyer for comment.