The White House trashes William Taylor as a “radical” but doesn’t deny any of his testimony
The White House has finally responded to this afternoon’s devastating impeachment hearing testimony from the former head diplomat to Ukraine, William Taylor, which confirmed allegations of an attempted quid pro quo between the President and Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Taylor revealed that the President tried to pressure Zelenskyy into appearing on CNN to publicly declare an investigation into Hunter Biden and tried to make the release of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military aid contingent on his cooperation, saying that he wanted Zelenskyy in a “box.”
I cannot overstate how damaging this Amb Taylor testimony is to Trump. pic.twitter.com/ARLewa1DCV
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) October 22, 2019
The testimony from Taylor makes it clear that everything the president has been accused of doing in regards to his Biden-Ukraine scandal and the allegations of abuse of power that accompany it is not only true, but is much worse than we previously believed.
In the face of damning evidence that they know is true, the White House went on the offensive, attempting to discredit the character of William Taylor by smearing him as a “radical” and promising that today’s testimony was nothing more than “triple hearsay.”
.@PressSec releases a statement on the Taylor testimony: pic.twitter.com/TWsQsy1i8G
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) October 22, 2019
The only problem with Grisham and the President’s statement is that William Taylor is the last person you could conceivably call a “radical.”
He is a Republican, who was appointed as Ambassador to Ukraine by Republican President George W. Bush, and is a decorated veteran who graduated from West Point.
It’s very telling that the White House didn’t even try to deny one piece of the evidence presented today by Taylor but instead went right to the insults and the credibility attacks, a tacit admission that they know they don’t have a leg to stand on and instead will try to muddy the waters as much as they can to try to save themselves.
WH statement does not dispute Taylor’s testimony; instead, @PressSec accuses him of launching a “coordinated smear campaign” against Trump.
It should be noted that, per several D/R lawmakers, Taylor has notes and other items to corroborate his testimony.https://t.co/ZceSblImJ1
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) October 22, 2019
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.