Bill Taylor testimony 'reverberating' among House Republicans, GOP sources say
Source: CNN
Washington (CNN)The opening statement of Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, is "reverberating" on Capitol Hill among Republicans, according to GOP Hill sources, who told CNN that Taylor's testimony is a game changer in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. A senior Republican source on Capitol Hill told CNN that Taylor's statement was so detailed, so specific and that he is so respected that it is having an impact. "It points to quid pro quo," the GOP source told CNN. There is an ongoing conversation among GOP members on Capitol Hill about the impact of Taylor's testimony, but it remains a question whether it will move Republicans closer to considering impeachment.
In a closed-door deposition Tuesday, Taylor said he had been told by Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, that "everything" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted, including a White House meeting and military aid to the country, would be held up until he publicly declared investigations sought by Trump. Taylor's statement undercut the White House's defense that there had been no quid pro quo offered on the call, as well as Sondland's previous testimony to Congress, but it corroborated many of the claims made by the intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry.
While most Republicans have sided publicly with the President, they've been privately grumbling that they're "fed up and tired" of being asked to defend Trump in the impeachment investigation. Republican sources on Capitol Hill told CNN there's a "growing unease that there is no defense" of the President's actions. "How do you defend the indefensible?" one source told CNN. "We can't defend the substance, all we can do is talk about process."
Taylor's deposition, however, marked a turning point in what has been a difficult week for Republicans in defending the President in the impeachment probe and other matters. Republicans were still being asked about acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney attempting last week to walk back his stunning admission to a quid pro quo involving security aid to Ukraine. Top congressional Republicans criticized Trump's comparison of the impeachment inquiry to a "lynching." Another Republican congressional source said that "the testimony by Taylor was devastating and we are waiting for the next shoe to drop."
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/24/politics/republicans-donald-trump-taylor-testimony/index.html
VWolf
(3,944 posts)for all those empty heads.
I can imagine all the rocks being tumbled inside those noggins! They could probably add some grit in there and get those rocks all nice and polished too!
crazytown
(7,277 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,163 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)House impeachment process, these thugs are only reverberated by putin and money.
BumRushDaShow
(129,163 posts)(and they are supposed to be the "Upper Chamber" akin to the "House of Lords" )
Per the Constitution it's up to THEM to hold the trial and vote on the charges.
NeoGreen
(4,031 posts)...culpable.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,015 posts)Tiggeroshii
(11,088 posts)And the hearings aren't even public yet. I imagine public opinion will skyrocket in favor of impeaching and removing after the hearings become public.
dem4decades
(11,297 posts)Tiggeroshii
(11,088 posts)But yeah, that will certainly be an obstacle.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)and repeating and repeating QUID PRO QUO, like a bunch of lemmings...
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
EXTORTION !!!
Bob Loblaw
(1,900 posts)Plus it's one fewer syllable the Magats have to negotiate.
EarthFirst
(2,901 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)Oh, wait... except..........
uh..
ssshhhh.
it has the word.....
black
in it...
Bob Loblaw
(1,900 posts)Spelling doesn't matter.
New chant opportunity: "Blackmail Matters!"
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Stuart G
(38,436 posts)This say says all we need to know:
..."How do you defend the indefensible?" one source told CNN. "We can't defend the substance, all we can do is talk about process."
Yes, some Republicans will stick with Trump no matter what. But some will go against him, and in private already have.
...This is a discussion about getting information from a foreign government on an opponent, and using that information, gotten illegally, against that opponent. Also, about Trump's criticism of the Constitution and what it means.
... Trump used the powers of the Presidency to subvert an upcoming election against an obvious opponent. This is not about lying about oral sex. This is about a totally different and dangerous set of circumstances.
And this admission by a source, means there is no defense. Trump has lied one too many times about one too many events. All that needs to happen is the curtain needs to close and the actors need to bow and get the applause. The show is just about over. If all of this is true, then to make it more simple, it is like your favorite football team is down 108 to 7 points with two minutes to go before the end of the game. Your team has lost this one, and time to regroup to face the next game.
BumRushDaShow
(129,163 posts)so it would have to be a large majority - all at once - to effect some sort of sea change. The other small group of loons would be told to go pound sand if they are not willing to go along.
I don't think they are there yet but if this drags on, more and more may finally decide to cut bait if they are given a satisfactory way to "save face" and rail against Democrats at the same time. It's hard to envision some workable scenario though (outside of some consortium of U.S. oligarchs who decide enough is enough - e.g., the Kochs didn't seem too keen on him, so that remains to be seen - notably considering what has transpired since this article came out).
Midnightwalk
(3,131 posts)Didnt care so much whether there really was an investigation or if an investigation showed anything corrupt
He just need Zelensky to announce the investigation so he could attack biden.
Just like he asked Mexico to just not say the wouldt pay for the wall.
And just like the FBI announced they were looking at Clintons email right before the election.
And just like McCarthy saying the purpose of the Benghazi investigation was to drive down Clintons poll numbers.
This fake investigation trick is getting old.
BumRushDaShow
(129,163 posts)He sets it up as the perfect bait for the inevitable media feeding frenzy that would attack his opponents or those against his positions without him having to do a thing other than keep their ball rolling. And right on cue, the media has fallen for it every single damn time because they are brainwashed to do "bothsideserisms", no matter how ridiculous or completely unrelated the assertion about the "other side" is.
But this is the first time they actually said "Wait a minute??!!", although some keep wanting to fall back to frantically searching for some "equivalent" incident.
bucolic_frolic
(43,202 posts)mean not a lot. Call me skeptical.
jayschool2013
(2,312 posts)Some aids must have actually read the document and summarized it for the GOPers.
Lonestarblue
(10,024 posts)Otherwise, they dont care how many laws the grifter in chief breaks so long as they stay in power. They may be in for a surprise. Trump may be hanging on to Republican cultists, but he is losing independents.
BumRushDaShow
(129,163 posts)so that might not be a good criteria.
Only thing that might make them move some is if they are actually brave enough to have a town hall and people pounce all over them like that lady did to Joni Ernst.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)empedocles
(15,751 posts)Then the bad news will trickle down to the state and local insiders. Then to the next levels below that. Then it will show up in further
poll deterioration - and be compounded by further 'bad news'; and get more interesting then.