What I find curious about this is that the quid pro quo was for a public statement that Ukraine will investigate the Bidens.
This sounds like Trump was concerned with public perception of the Biden's dealings and not about actually investigating wrong doing. This makes sense as his primary goal here was to undermine a political opponent, and he is probably aware that there's not actually any "there" there wrt criminal wrongdoing.
Oh yeah, this is the testimony we've been waiting for.
My favorite line from this Politico article:
--Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the president's lead defender in the room, was tight-lipped as he emerged from the closed-door deposition for a lunch break. He praised what he described as GOP lawyers’ effective questioning of Taylor but declined to say whether it yielded exculpatory information.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/22/william-taylor-ukraine-testimony-trump-054259
--William Taylor prompted sighs and gasps when he read a lengthy 15-page opening statement, two of the sources said.
--"The body language of the people hearing it was ‘holy s---,’ seriously,” Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Calif.), a member of the Oversight Committee, said in reference to Taylor’s opening statement.
--Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, characterized the testimony as a “sea change” that “could accelerate” the impeachment inquiry. Another lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, said it was “the most thorough accounting we’ve had of the timeline.”
“I’ll tell you, as a former State Department political appointee, in my experience the difference between career folks and political appointees is the career folks take very good notes,” Malinowski said, hinting that Taylor provided corroboration to back up his recollections.
--Another source said a phone call between Taylor and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, was a key episode about which Taylor provided new information. That conversation came at Sondland’s request after Taylor, in one of the text messages released earlier this month, questioned whether the military assistance and possible White House meeting are “conditioned on investigations.”
“After today, Mr. Sondland is going to have some explaining to do,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said.
