chris wallace Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Fox News anchor Chris Wallace argued that testimony at Wednesday’s impeachment hearing from Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, was „very damaging to the president.“

„He is a pretty impressive presence up there, and, I think, very nonpolitical,“ Wallace said.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Fox displayed statements from the White House undermining Taylor and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, while they spoke during the hearings.

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The Fox News anchor Chris Wallace argued on Wednesday that Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, was „very impressive“ during the first day of public impeachment hearings, adding that Taylor’s testimony was „very damaging to the president.“

Taylor testified on Wednesday — and in previous closed-door hearings — that President Donald Trump withheld $391 million in US security assistance and a White House meeting from Ukraine to pressure the country to investigate his political rivals.

„I think that William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president,“ Wallace said.

The veteran Fox anchor, who is part of the straight news programming that often contrasts sharply with Fox’s prime-time opinion shows, said that Taylor, a Vietnam veteran, appeared nonpartisan and trustworthy, adding that his voice sounded like that of the storied journalist Edward R. Murrow.

„He’s a pretty impressive presence up there, and, I think, very nonpolitical,“ Wallace said. „He went out of his way to talk about what he knew, what he was specifically testament to. The only thing he talked about was a strong feeling that it was in the US national-security interest to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia. But he certainly wasn’t taking any partisan position.“

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Fox News displayed statements from the White House undermining both Taylor and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, while they spoke during the hearings.

The graphics said that „President Trump dismissed Taylor as a ’never Trumper'“ and that the White House „called Taylor’s closed-door testimony ‚triple hearsay.'“

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fox’s graphic for bill taylor vs. msnbc’s graphic

you already know how this is gonna play out pic.twitter.com/Xv28fiaMJY

Taylor testified on Wednesday that one of his staffers overheard Trump ask Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, about Ukrainian „investigations“ in a previously unreported July 26 phone call. The staffer said Sondland told Trump that „the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.“

Taylor said that when the staffer asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine, Sondland „responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for.“