Trumpland

White House: Bill Taylor Testimony Part of a ‘Coordinated Smear Campaign’ by ‘Radical Unelected Bureaucrats’

‘WAGING WAR ON THE CONSTITUTION’

“There was no quid pro quo,” the White House asserted.

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Brendan Smialowski/Getty

The White House issued a statement Tuesday lashing out at “far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats” after President Trump’s acting ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, told Congress that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was made contingent on the Ukrainian president formally announcing investigations into U.S. domestic affairs. “President Trump has done nothing wrong—this is a coordinated smear campaign from far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution,” the White House said in a statement to NPR. “There was no quid pro quo. Today was just more triple hearsay.” In his opening statement, Taylor told lawmakers that he was told military aid to Ukraine would only come if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fulfilled Trump's wishes and publicly announced the opening of investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, along with alleged 2016 election interference. Trump mentioned the Bidens in a July 25 phone call with Zelensky, which became the subject of a whistleblower complaint that prompted a formal impeachment inquiry.

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