美国代表安迪·莱文告诉记者，星期二上午听取美国驻乌克兰大使比尔·泰勒的证词是他加入国会以来“最令人不安的一天”。
泰勒自特朗普今年夏天有争议地召回乌克兰大使玛丽·约瓦诺维奇以来，一直是乌克兰最高外交官。以前作证与众议院弹劾调查有关的国会调查人员。作为快速调查的一部分，他给其他外交官的一些短信已经被公之于众，其中一条短信暗示唐纳德·特朗普总统对乌克兰的施压行动是有回报的。
来自密歇根州的新生民主党人莱文从闭门会议中走出来，与外面的记者简短地分享了他的想法，全国广播公司新闻和福克斯新闻报道。“我要说的是，在我在国会的短短10个月里——还不到中午，对吗？——这是——迄今为止——我在国会中最令人不安的一天，”他断言。
“非常麻烦，”莱文补充道。
美国驻乌克兰代理大使比尔·泰勒将于10月22日抵达，在众议院弹劾调查中作证。
在一条短信中泰勒直接问美国驻欧盟大使戈登·桑德兰:“我们现在是说安全援助和WH会议是以调查为条件的吗？”桑德拉回应说，让外交官给他打电话，暗示他不想要他们谈话的书面记录。
加州民主党众议员阿米·贝拉，告诉美国有线电视新闻网泰勒“填补了一些空白，他非常坦率地与我们分享了他的经历。”贝拉将泰勒的证词与桑德拉的证词进行了比较，声称驻乌克兰大使似乎有更好的“记忆和回忆”
弹劾调查是在9月底发起的，此前一名举报者对总统向乌克兰施压，要求其展开调查表示担忧被揭穿的阴谋论涉及民主党和2016年总统选举的干涉，以及对民主党主要总统候选人乔·拜登未经证实的指控。总统的批评者认为，在调查一个政治对手时，甚至请求外国援助都是滥用他的职权。
此外，特朗普政府暂时扣留了近4亿美元对乌克兰的军事援助，总统代理参谋长米克·马尔瓦尼(Mick Mulvaney)上周四表示，这笔援助与迫使这个东欧国家开启针对民主党的调查有关。在迅速的反对后，马尔瓦尼试图撤回评论，坚称没有这样的“交换条件”，被扣留的军事援助实际上与预期的调查没有联系。
来自佛罗里达州的民主党众议员黛比·乏色曼·舒尔茨，讲述纽约时报泰勒的证词在特朗普的个人政治目标和他在乌克兰的外交政策之间划了一条“直线”。她形容大使的证词“极其详细”。
领导联邦选举委员会的民主党人艾伦·温特劳布指出，接受外国人或外国政府的援助是违法的。“任何人在美国选举中向外国人索取、接受或接受任何有价值的东西都是非法的，”温特劳布说指出在今年早些时候的一份声明中。
特朗普和他的支持者一再辩称，弹劾调查是“党派性的”，称之为“政治迫害”和“私刑”。但是几位著名的共和党人对总统对乌克兰的行为表示了严重的担忧。
对于马尔瓦尼周四关于拒绝向乌克兰提供军事援助的言论，佛罗里达州共和党众议员弗朗西斯·鲁尼表示，特朗普政府官员不能简单地“收回”他的公开言论。
“我看不出你是怎么回到清晰的事情上的，”鲁尼说在采访中说周日与美国有线电视新闻网。"我会说游戏，设置，匹配."
这篇文章被国会议员阿米·贝拉对美国有线电视新闻网的评论和国会议员黛比·乏色曼·舒尔茨对《纽约时报》的评论所更新。
Lawmaker Calls Ukraine Envoy's Testimony His 'Most Disturbing Day' in Congress
US. Representative Andy Levin told reporters that hearing U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor's testimony Tuesday morning had made for his "most disturbing day" since joining Congress.
Taylor, who has been the top diplomat in Ukraine since Trump controversially recalled Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch this summer, testified before congressional investigators in connection with the House's impeachment inquiry. Some of his text messages to other diplomats have already been made public as part of the fast-moving probe, with one note suggesting there was a quid pro quo involved with President Donald Trump's pressure campaign against Ukraine.
Levin, a freshman Democrat from Michigan, emerged from the closed-door session and briefly shared his thoughts with journalists outside, NBC News and Fox News reported. "All I have to say is that in my 10 short months in Congress—it's not even noon, right?—and this is the—my most disturbing day in the Congress so far," he asserted.
"Very troubling," Levin added.
Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor arrives on October 22 for a deposition in the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry.
In one text message to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Taylor asked directly: "Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?" Sondland responded by telling the diplomat to call him, suggesting that he didn't want a paper trail of their conversation.
Representative Ami Bera, a Democrat from California, told CNNthat Taylor was "filling in some gaps, he's sharing with us in a pretty candid way his experience." Comparing Taylor's testimony to Sondland's, Bera asserted that the ambassador to Ukraine seemed to have a better "memory and recollection."
The impeachment inquiry was launched at the end of September after a whistleblower came forward with concerns about the president's efforts to pressure Ukraine to open an investigation into a debunked conspiracy theory involving Democrats and 2016 presidential election interference, as well as unsubstantiated claims against the leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Critics of the president have argued that it was an abuse of his office to even request foreign assistance in an investigation of a political rival.
Furthermore, the Trump administration temporarily withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, which the president's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, said last Thursday was linked to pressuring the Eastern European country to open the probe targeting Democrats. After swift backlash, Mulvaney attempted to withdraw the comments, insisting there was no such "quid pro quo" and that the military aid being withheld wasn't actually linked to the desired probe.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida, told The New York Timesthat Taylor's testimony drew a "direct line" between Trump's personal political goals and his foreign policy in Ukraine. She described the ambassador's testimony as "excruciatingly detailed."
Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat who heads the Federal Election Commission, has pointed out that accepting assistance from a foreigner or a foreign government is against the law. "It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election," Weintraub pointed out in a statement earlier this year.
Trump and his supporters have repeatedly argued that the impeachment inquiry is "partisan," describing it as a "witch hunt" and a "lynching." But several prominent Republicans have raised serious concerns about the president's actions toward Ukraine.
In regards to Mulvaney's Thursday comments about withholding military aid to Ukraine, GOP Representative Francis Rooney of Florida said that the Trump administration official couldn't simply "walk back" his public remarks.
"I don't see how you walk back something that's clear," Rooney said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. "I would say game, set, match on that."
This article has been updated with comments from Congressman Ami Bera to CNN, and remarks by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to The New York Times.
