Taylor's Opening Statement Shocked Lawmakers

[book_worm]

The opening statement from Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, to the House impeachment inquiry solicited “sighs and gasps,” Politico reports.

https://politicalwire.com/2019/10/22/taylors-opening-statement-shocked-lawmakers/#disqus_thread

[berni_mccoy]

1. In other words: it's bad... real bad for Trump

[yellowcanine]

2. Lot of pearl clutching from Republicans I'm sure.

[The Genealogist]

30. Wish I owned stock in pearls and fainting couch manufacturers

I'd be wealthy from all the demand for them from Trump era republicans.

[alfredo]

3. Whenwill we see the transcript

[maxsolomon]

5. When the Articles of Impeachment are passed.

Schiff is running this by the book. So it's "unimpeachable", LOL...

[alfredo]

6. thanks

[Pacifist Patriot]

37. Now! Someone took photos of it with their phone! (pdf link)

https://games-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/542ee36f-eafc-4f2b-a075-b3b492d981a5/note/75965f57-6561-42f8-af40-a9e984a85660.pdf

[H2O Man]

41. Thank you!

[alfredo]

46. Thanks

[maxsolomon]

4. Taylor's the one that put them on record.

Now, the only argument left is "it's not bad enough to Impeach over".

Which is literally what NPR gave time to a GOP Strategist to argue yesterday.

[Mme. Defarge]

7. Which is why I stopped watching NPR

during W’s administration.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

39. I stopped respecting them

when Bill Clinton was first running for President. Perhaps I should be more specific and say I rarely listen to Morning Edition or All Things Considered any more. There are other shows I do listen to.

I recall Cokie Roberts going on at length one morning about how completely unelectable Clinton was, not that it mattered because there was no way on god's green earth that he'd even get the nomination.

[jcgoldie]

49. Whenever I try to watch NPR

Its so damn boring I feel like I'm just staring at the dashboard of my car...

[unblock]

10. 'cause nothing donnie's done rises to the level of evading the truth about an affair in a civil case

[maxsolomon]

11. exactly.

the hypocrisy is infuriating.

[flibbitygiblets]

35. including the hush $ he paid to a porn star, violating campaign finance laws

[EricaGriswoldAuthor]

20. I stopped listening to NPR last year

They weren't critical enough of trump.

[maxsolomon]

21. The have to kowtow to the GOP

to maintain their funding. that means "objectivity", and providing Republics air time.

it would be one thing if they could argue honestly, but all they do is lie.

[orangecrush]

26. Aren't the Kochs

One of their big corporate sponsors?

[maxsolomon]

32. PBS

I think. Not NPR.

[orangecrush]

47. ...

https://www.change.org/p/npr-npr-drop-koch-industries-as-a-sponsor

[maxsolomon]

48. When is that from?

Most of the Koch-sponsorship articles I see are from 2013, 2014.

[orangecrush]

56. Not sure.

I do know within the last month I heard Koch industries announced as an NPR sponsor.

[Captain Zero]

29. Right. Im sure all the funding from KOCH

Comes with stipulations.

[Volaris]

24. That's for Madame Speaker to decide.

Somebody needs to get trump into a deposition so can lie under oath, and then we can impeach him for, at a minimum, exactly the same thing the GOP tried to impeach Clinton for.

Go ahead and defend THAT, bootlickers.

[maxsolomon]

31. He'll NEVER be deposed.

His lawyers are assholes, but they're not crazy.

[KentuckyWoman]

57. I will say

Asshole attorneys come in handy sometimes. We had to sue an insurance company years ago. We kept shopping lawyers until we found one most people would want to send over a bridge. He was totally full of himself. But he got us our money.

[bringthePaine]

33. nothing left of NPR but a little human interest and tiny smattering of funny...sad, really...

[GulfCoast66]

58. That what good news sources do.

Have speakers from both sides on to tout their views. Then reports the truth.

NPR does that well. Which is why the right hates them.

Unless you want a news source that never has people on you disagree with?

Personally, I don’t want NPR to become a Fox for the left by never showing both sides.

No true news organization would not allow supporters or representatives of the current administration on the air. That’s what Fox does. NPR allows them on. But then reports the truth.

Except for the BBC they have been the most solid news reporters.

If you want all our side, all the time, there are places you can go.

[maxsolomon]

61. You're putting words in my mouth. I didn't say I want only one side on NPR.

NPR regularly gives time to the GOP. Fine. Their problem appears to be finding a Republican who won't spend that time disingenuously spinning and lying.

Often, that speaker's bullshit is challenged, mildly, by the host, but the sheer volume of falsities means most of the lies go unchallenged.

"Then reports the truth" is not what happens when RW Gish Gallops occur at 20 minutes after 6 in the morning. NPR doesn't fact check everything a guest says.

[Hassler]

8. Time for Gym Jordan to play Sgt. Schultz again.

[Poiuyt]

44. At least Sargent Schultz wore a jacket.

[gibraltar72]

9. But were they surprised?

[stopdiggin]

14. no. the key elements have been known for some time

up to now this has hinged on -- 1) can the Ds prove it was really a quid-pro-quo? -- and 2) was the quid-pro-quo clearly intended to damage a political opponent (or was there some other possible legitimate reason of state)? -- and finally, and most critically 3) if both of these elements are true, is it a crime or an abuse of power that justifies removal from office?

[Poiuyt]

43. One doesn't need a quid pro quo for this to be a federal crime.

It's a bit of a red herring really. The law states that foreign nationals cannot give a gift to a political campaign and that it is illegal for a campaign to solicit anything of value from a foreign national. The quid pro quo just makes it worse.

[stopdiggin]

54. what campaign? and what item of "value"

see where this goes? The administration can argue "No" to both of the above. Can we prove otherwise? Who is going to adjudicate the question? As much as we'd like it to be .. it's not nearly as cut and dried as all that.

[elleng]

12. The Trump Impeachment Inquiry: Latest Updates NYT

'The top American diplomat in Ukraine gave “damning” testimony about President Trump in a meeting Tuesday morning with House impeachment investigators, according to people familiar with it.

RIGHT NOW William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, is on Capitol Hill testifying to impeachment investigators.

The top diplomat in Ukraine gave “incredibly damning” testimony Tuesday morning, according to a Democrat in the room.
William B. Taylor Jr., the top diplomat in Ukraine, gave “damning” testimony Tuesday about President Trump and the effort to pressure Ukraine’s government for political gain, according to a Democratic lawmaker and another person familiar with the opening statement Mr. Taylor delivered behind closed doors in the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

“What he said was incredibly damning to the president of the United States,” Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California, said after emerging after hours of questioning Tuesday morning. He declined to elaborate further, citing House rules against releasing such testimony.

Mr. Taylor became one of star witnesses in the Democratic impeachment probe after a colleague, Kurt D. Volker, the special envoy to Ukraine, revealed a series of text messages from September in which Mr. Taylor wrote that he thought it was “crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

In an extensive opening statement, Mr. Taylor laid out a detailed timeline of events during his time in the administration, according to the person familiar with his testimony. The person also described the information Mr. Taylor provided to lawmakers as damning.

Mr. Taylor’s testimony was based in part on detailed notes that he took throughout his tenure, according to another person familiar with what he has told lawmakers. Mr. Taylor has shared his notes with the State Department but has not produced copies of them for lawmakers conducting the impeachment inquiry, the person said.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/politics/trump-impeachment.html?

[OliverQ]

13. Sadly Republicans won't care.

They're still defending Trump. And how do we get the majority of Americans to understand how serious and criminal what Bill Taylor is describing is? I feel like most Americans won't pay attention.

[lagomorph777]

18. Polls say most Americans do understand: majority support for impeachment and removal.

If we get to 2/3, Turd and the Russiapublicans are toast.

[OliverQ]

42. 50% support is not 67% support.

We will never reach 67% support for impeachment.

[lagomorph777]

45. It went up 20 points in 2 days.

Yeah, 67% may be a wee bit optimistic though.

The higher it goes, the more Russiapublican asses are threatened.

[manhattan123]

15. The next step

When does the White House start saying Bil Taylor is a deep state partisan?

[Mr.Bill]

16. They've already presented their defense.

"We do it all the time...Get over it."

[johnnyfins]

19. right around the same time that rightwing radio

says that he was Soros' manservant for years.

[Gothmog]

17. There was a clear quid pro quo

Link to tweet

[Yavin4]

22. We don't even need the whistleblower at this point. n/t

[moreland01]

23. Leak it, already!

All of the other opening statements have been leaked to the press.

[Pacifist Patriot]

38. Here you go.

Someone took photos of it with a phone.

https://games-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/542ee36f-eafc-4f2b-a075-b3b492d981a5/note/75965f57-6561-42f8-af40-a9e984a85660.pdf

[triron]

25. Treason!

[Cartoonist]

27. They're keeping the testimony secret?

How long before Trump subpoenas them?

[grantcart]

34. It's not testimony. It's a deposition.

After the deposition/investigation phase a public hearing will be held and the information that was obtained in the depositions will be presented AFTER that information has been vetted.

Under both Nixon and Clinton impeachment there were Special Prosecutors who did the depositions in private.

There is very strong forensic reasons why depositions are done in secret.

Trust me it is all going to be public

There will be a multi volume book

There will be a movie. Harrison Ford's Agent is likely negotiating to play Ambassador Taylor and I would bet Meryl Streep is angling to play Speaker Pelosi.

Patience, my friend

[pnwmom]

51. Trump doesn't have subpoena power. n/t

[Cartoonist]

53. I was being facetious

[pnwmom]

55. That's why we have the sarcasm smilie!

[Raftergirl]

28. Trump

knew this was coming today - hence his Twittertantrum this morning and yesterday’s rambling word salad during the cabinet meeting (if you can even call that a cabinet meeting.)

[flibbitygiblets]

36. Speaking of cabinet meetings, guess who ELSE is impeachable by the House? Cabinet members.

Barr, Mchuchbag, Pompousahole, Esper-anza, all of them. If they're involved (and they're involved!), they can also be impeached. Oh and let's not forget Rick "oops" Perry. That bastard's grimy fingerprints are all over this Ukraine debacle.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

50. I would be very happy

If all of Trump's lackeys mcconnell and pence and the rest of the scum would be kicked out and impeached. They are all criminals ,trash.
Unworthy republicans and ignorant stupid narcissitic pieces of shit.

I'd love the entire republican party to
Go extinct and as time more shit they've done to fuck up our country will be legally erased, and republican criminality on all levels gets exposed to the point just saying you're republican is met with rejection disdain and shame.

[flibbitygiblets]

60. Agree with you, except AFAIK congress can't be impeached since they are elected

only "federal public officials", including cabinet members. Interestingly, appointed advisors are also considered cabinet members, so sounds like Jarvanka could be impeached as well.

McTurtle and Leningrad Lindsey would have to be voted out, I'm afraid.

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken.

[B Stieg]

40. The SMOCKING Gun!

Finally! Lots of congresspersons seem disturbed with what this dude had to say.
It's about time!!!

[Scurrilous]

52. K&R

[smirkymonkey]

59. K&R