What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

The section of Taylor’s opening statement where he’s talking about his conversations with Sondland is really, really important. He says Sondland told him that it wasn’t just a White House meeting that hinged on the investigations — “everything” (including security aid) depended on Ukraine’s willingness to publicly announce a probe into the Bidens. Sondland himself hasn’t been an especially reliable witness, though. He had to update his testimony last week after reading about what Taylor and another witness, Tim Morrison, said in closed-door depositions. He now says he did tell Ukrainians that the security assistance likely wouldn’t be released until there was a public announcement about the investigations.

Always the TV star president? According to Taylor, Trump and the White House team not only wanted Ukraine to conduct an investigation into Biden’s family and 2016 theories, but make public statements about it. It was supposed to be a show.

“The Russians love it and I quit” is quite the soundbite.