Longtime diplomat Bill Taylor testifies that he has never seen a US president make foreign aid a condition of their personal or political interests

Associated Press/Alex Brandon

Top US diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019.

• A key witness who testified during Wednesday's public impeachment hearing said he had never before seen a US president use foreign aid as leverage for personal or political gain.
• Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, testified during the hearing about allegations that the Trump administration dangled military aid to Ukraine and pressured its government to investigate Trump's 2020 Democratic rival Joe Biden.
• In a powerful exchange with Daniel Goldman, the Democrats' staff lawyer, Taylor acknowledged that the move appeared unprecedented to him.
• Follow along here for live updates on the Trump impeachment hearings.
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One of the most important witnesses against President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had never before witnessed a US president use foreign aid as leverage for personal gain.

The first public impeachment hearing opened Wednesday morning, and featured testimony from Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs.

The Democratic investigations chief, Daniel Goldman, questioned Taylor on his testimony that the Trump administration dangled US military aid and a potential White House visit in exchange for the Ukrainian government's promise to investigate the family of former Vice President Joe Biden.

In a powerful exchange with Goldman, Taylor acknowledged that the move appeared unprecedented to him.

"Ambassador Taylor, in your decades of military service and diplomatic service representing the United States around the world, have you ever seen another example of foreign aid conditioned on the personal or political interests of the president of the United States?" Goldman asked.

"No, Mr. Goldman, I have not," Taylor replied.

Taylor also said he believed that Trump felt that the Ukrainians "owed" him these investigations into the Bidens, and that withholding military aid "for no good reason" was nonsensical.

"It was counterproductive to all of what we had been trying to do," Taylor said. "It was illogical, it could not be explained, it was crazy."

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