What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

Taylor’s larger point here is not just about his own job and whether he was the right guy to take the post this summer. Instead, he is laying the groundwork for Democrats to argue that formal U.S. policy toward Ukraine had not changed, and so any hedging on U.S. support of Ukraine was being done through informal and inappropriate channels.

Now we are getting the meat of the issue. What did Taylor witness once he arrived in Ukraine as the charge d’affaires?

Democrats may not want to give Republicans ammunition to talk about the Mueller investigation by focusing on Russia’s role in all of this. But Taylor is emphasizing something that clearly troubled him throughout the Ukraine saga — withholding the security assistance to Ukraine didn’t just hurt Ukraine, it also helped Russia.