Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) ripped Democrats’ impeachment witness Ambassador William Taylor on Wednesday as he deconstructed the narrative the Democratic Party has promoted surrounding President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During one exchange, Jordan highlighted Taylor’s limited knowledge of the events about which he was testifying:
Jordan: You didn’t listen in on President Trump and Zelensky’s call?
Taylor: I did not.
Jordan: You’ve never talked with Chief of Staff Mulvaney?
Taylor: I never did.
Jordan: You’ve never met the president?
Taylor: That’s correct.
Jordan: You had three meetings again with Zelenksy and it didn’t come up … and President Zelensky never made an announcement. … and you’re their star witness.
WATCH:
.@Jim_Jordan: You didn’t listen in on President Trump & Zelensky’s call?
Taylor: I did not.
Jordan: You’ve never talked with Chief of Staff Mulvaney?
Taylor: I never did.
Jordan: You’ve never met the President?
Taylor: That’s correct.
Jordan: And you’re their star witness. pic.twitter.com/ebZ6jsEjeB
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) November 13, 2019
“In those 55 days that aid is delayed, you met with President Zelensky three times,” Jordan said. “The first one was on July 26, the day after the famous call now between President Trump and President Zelensky.”
“President Zelensky meets with you, Ambassador Volker, and Ambassador Sondland, and again, according to your deposition and your testimony, there was no linkage of security assistance dollars to investigating Burisma or the Bidens.”
“Second meeting was August 27, President Zelensky meets with you, Ambassador Bolton and others, and again there’s no linkage of security assistance dollars to an investigation of the Bidens,” Jordan continued. “And then of course, the third meeting was September 5, President Zelensky meets with you and Senators Johnston and Murphy, and once again there was no linkage of security assistance dollars to investigating Burisma or the Bidens.”
“Three meetings with the president of Ukraine and no linkage,” Jordan added. “That’s accurate?”
“Mr. Jordan, it’s certainly accurate on the first two meetings, because to my knowledge the Ukrainians were not aware of the hold on assistance until the 29th of August,” Taylor responded. “The third meeting that you mentioned, with Senator Murphy and Senator Johnston, there was discussion of security assistance but … but, uh, there was not a discussion of linkage.”
WATCH:
Ladies and gentlemen, JIM. JORDAN. GAME. OVER. #DemsGotNothing pic.twitter.com/Wewe3kZPEc
— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) November 13, 2019
Jordan continued to hammer Taylor, saying, “President Zelensky had to commit to an investigation of the Bidens before the aid got released and the aid got released and he didn’t commit to an investigation.”
“I was not wrong about what I told you because that is what I heard,” Taylor quickly responded. “That’s all I’ve said, I’ve told you what I heard.”
“And that’s the point,” Jordan fired back. “What you heard did not happen. It didn’t happen. You had three meetings with the guy, he could have told you, he didn’t announce that he was going to do an investigation before the aid happened.”
“It’s not just could it have been wrong, the fact is, it was wrong, because it didn’t happen.” Jordan continued. “The whole point was, you had a clear understanding that aid will not get released unless there is a commitment, not maybe, not I think the aid might happen, not it’s my hunch it’s going to get released, you used clear language, clear understanding and commitment and those two things didn’t happen, so you had to be wrong.”
“Mr. Jordan, the other thing that went on when that assistance was on hold is we shook the confidence of a close partner in our reliability,” Taylor responded.
Jordan fired back, “That’s not what this proceeding is about Ambassador. That is not what this whole thing started on.”
WATCH:
Jim Jordan presses Bill Taylor about aid being released to Ukraine without any investigations having been announced pic.twitter.com/SLlso6llW2
— Axios (@axios) November 13, 2019