House

Democrat: Top diplomat’s testimony on Ukraine is ‘sea change’ in impeachment probe

Democrats emerging Tuesday from the closed-door testimony of the United States’ the top diplomat to Ukraine were tight-lipped on details but effusive on a central point: William Taylor, they said, was delivering the most damning testimony yet in the Democrats’ impeachment investigation into President Trump.

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

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

Lynch described Taylor, the U.S. chargé d’affaires of Ukraine, as a “meticulous” note taker who had kept detailed records of his involvement in the months-long effort by Trump and some of his closest allies to pressure Ukrainian leaders to find dirt on Trump’s political rivals.

“He indicated that he kept extensive notes on all of this,” Lynch said.

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also suggested Taylor’s testimony was supportive of the central allegations facing Trump on his dealings with Ukraine.

“I would say it certainly filled in many of the remaining gaps in the narrative,” Malinowski said.

“I would say he remembered some things that previous witnesses have not been able to remember.”

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