FOREIGN AID/INVESTIGATIONS/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “The top U.S. envoy to Ukraine told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday [10-22-19] that President Donald Trump sought to withhold critical military aid to Ukraine and refuse a White House meeting with the country’s president unless he pursued politically motivated investigations into Trump’s rivals. The diplomat, William Taylor, painted a damaging portrait of events that directly tied Trump to a quid pro quo with Ukraine, according to his prepared remarks obtained by POLITICO and his responses to questions as described by sources in the room for the closed-door testimony. The timeline Taylor laid out during his nearly 10 hours testifying before investigators is at the heart of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into the president. The 50-year veteran of government service systematically dismantled Trump’s repeated denials that he sought to leverage American military and diplomatic might to coerce an ally into a coordinated campaign to damage his potential 2020 rival.”
–Andrew Desiderio and Kyle Cheney, “Top U.S. envoy ties Trump directly to Ukraine quid pro quo,” Politico, October 22, 2019 9:07 pm