In his own words

My colleague Sharon LaFraniere highlighted six key parts of Mr. Taylor’s opening statement. Here are three of the most compelling passages:

1. Mr. Taylor described an explicit quid pro quo.

There appeared to be two channels of U.S. policy-making and implementation, one regular and one highly irregular … By mid-July it was becoming clear to me that the meeting President Zelensky wanted was conditioned on the investigations of Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. It was also clear that this condition was driven by the irregular policy channel I had come to understand was guided by [Rudy] Giuliani.

2. Mr. Taylor was told Ukraine had to ‘pay up.’

Before these text messages, during our call on September 8, Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check.

3. Mr. Taylor said Ukrainians would die as a result of the delay in military aid.