During the long-awaited impeachment hearings, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan pointed out impeachment witness William Taylor’s limited knowledge on what he was testifying. When Jordan asked whether Taylor had listened to President Trump and Zelensky’s call, Taylor said he had not. Jordan also asked whether Taylor has ever talked with Chief of Staff Mulvaney, in which Taylor responded with “I never did.” Taylor also affirms that he has never met the president.
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The exchange started when Jordan, an Ohio Republican and defender of Trump, grilled Taylor on what he called his “clear understanding” that “US military aid dollars would be held up until Ukraine complied with the president’s request to probe Joe and Hunter Biden’s dealings in the nation.” Jordan says the Ambassador’s understanding was wrong.
Leading Democrats supposed that President Trump established a quid pro quo, a favor granted in return for something, in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, proposing that he would withhold military aid unless Ukraine “looked at Hunter Biden’s lucrative post on energy company Burisma.” However, the White House “ultimately signed off on the $391 million package in mid-September despite there being no indication Ukraine was opening such a probe,” as noted by Jordan.
Jordan mockingly called Taylor their “star witness,” in which Taylor reiterates a position he said in his opening remarks: “I’m not here to take one side or the other. … I don’t consider myself a star witness for anything.”
