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'Tone Of Moral Outrage' In Bill Taylor's Statement | Morning Joe | MSNBC - YouTube
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all right we begin with the capitol hill
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testimony that is raising serious
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concerns about president Trump's denial
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of a quid pro quo when it comes to his
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dealings with Ukraine acting US
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ambassador to Ukraine bill Taylor spent
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more than nine hours behind closed doors
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testifying before before House lawmakers
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yesterday and according to Politico two
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sources in the room for Taylor's
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closed-door testimony say they were
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sighs and gasps when Taylor read his
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opening statement Taylor told members of
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Congress that the president directed
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officials to tie foreign aid money to
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demand that Ukraine open an
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investigation into the Biden family this
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opening statement itself Willy was
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devastating yeah it's available online
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everybody should read it's a 15-page
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opening statement Taylor said Trump
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insisted that President Solinsky go to a
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microphone and say he's opening
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investigations of Biden and 2016
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election interference and that President
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szalinski should want to do this himself
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Taylor wrote the eeo ambassador Gordon
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Sandlin told him quote everything was
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dependent on szalinski making a public
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statement including security assistance
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and his testimony Taylor called it a
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confusing and unusual arrangement for
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making US policy toward Ukraine Taylor
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told lawmakers somnom tried to explain
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how President Trump was approaching the
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matter like a businessman saying when a
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businessman is about to sign a check to
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someone who owes him something he said
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the businessman asked that person to pay
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up before signing the check when Sandlin
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testified before house investigators
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last week he said he did not recall any
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discussions with anyone at the State
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Department or the White House about
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investigating the Biden so Jonathan
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Lemire what Bill Taylor laid out
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yesterday is a quid pro quo there's no
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other way to put it in explicit quid pro
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quo in his testimony yesterday that's
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correct
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and Baelor Taylor the top envoy to the
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Ukraine was asked to go to that petition
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by Secretary of State Pompeo typically
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kept detailed notes and records and
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recounted yesterday you know the room
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was spellbound as he went through his
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testimony and went through the time
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after time where he had disturbing as he
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put it disturbing conversations with
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other members of the administration and
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the State Department
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how he learned about rudy guiliani and
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as he put it sort of this informal
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parallel foreign policy to Ukraine
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the exchanges with ambassador with the
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Besser Bolton and that - security
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adviser about what was happening there
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as well when Bolton tried to keep things
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on the more regular channels and then to
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spell out what is largely the quid pro
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quo what the president has time and time
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again denied suggesting that the
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president would only authorized this
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military aid to the Ukraine if it were
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to carry out the investigation into
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corruption and that mainly meant of
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course the bible's and this is really I
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mean ad elect direkt line david ignatius
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being drawn from the inside in terms of
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someone who was there and a part of this
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what Bill Taylor described David how
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would you characterize that is that a
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crime well he certainly has the elements
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of an exchange of something for for
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something else of value that's usually
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called bribery we'll leave it to the
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house to decide how they want to assess
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the the specific charges yesterday's
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testimony as we read it had the feeling
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for me of a tipping point mm-hmm it just
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was of a different character than what
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we've seen before mica and I've tried to
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think what is it about the way Taylor
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wrote these 15 pages as you can see from
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the pictures he's a mild mannered kind
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of classic foreign service officer and I
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think there are two things first
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he wrote it almost as a detective story
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he arrives in Kiev not understanding
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that there's this second as he calls it
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a regular Channel that's really running
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things
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so through this narrative he he learns
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more and more and begins to see that
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these other people running a policy that
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has nothing to do with our stated policy
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that Congress has voted and then a
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second thing that's in the in these 15
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pages is a tone of moral outrage here
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Ukrainians literally on the front lines
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against Russia fighting an undeclared
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war in the East Taylor goes to the front
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and effect to see it and he writes with
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real conviction that more Ukrainians
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will die because President Trump is
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withholding this
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military assistance for political
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purposes
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he doesn't say so but he's outraged and
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I think that comes through and will come
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through for anybody who reads this Eddie
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the bill Taylor let's talk about Bill
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Taylor personally for a few moments Bill
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Taylor graduated from West Point he
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served in the hundred and first Airborne
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but a combat infantry platoon in Vietnam
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and for the fifty years has served the
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United States of America in the State
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Department under consistent
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administration's Republican and Democrat
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and yesterday the White House's response
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to ambassador Taylor's statement and
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testimony yesterday was to describe it
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as part of a smear campaign from far
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left lawmakers and radical unelected
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bureaucrats that's how they described
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ambassador William Taylor a radical
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unelected bureaucrat but as David
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Ignatius just indicated it had the
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feeling his statement when you read it
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of a sea change in this now shifting
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people like Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan
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and most of the Republican members of
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the United States Senate from their
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positions of denial to now a position of
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trying to come up with an explanation
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yeah of course is that Mark Meadows
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walked out of that ten hour just
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deposition and declared that he heard he
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didn't hear in a quid pro quo right so
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he was nothing new it was still in place
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you know Dan Balz in his in his in his
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column today in the Washington Post made
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made it very clear he says the question
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of whether this happened is now settled
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mm-hmm the issue now is the weather how
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the president explains it and what
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Congress chooses to do about it so
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you're right something has changed The
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Smoking Gun is here we evidence is clear
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now we have to now we have to assess
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what will the Congress do and and I
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think that's where we are so something
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has shifted I think you and and David
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all right something has shifted the
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question now is what are the next steps
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well add one other thing Jonathan to the
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list that Mike Barnicle just read off
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Bill Taylor was asked by secretary
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Pompeo to return to service so the
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radical unelected bureaucrat was
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specifically asked by Pompeo to come out
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of retirement because of experience in
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Ukraine and work he agonized over the
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decision he wrote in his Oh
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statement his wife voted against it he
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was happily in retirement so this is not
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a radical unelected bureaucrat this is
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someone handpicked by the State
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Department Mike Pompeo who's loyal to
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president that's right arguably the
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president's most loyal you happen to
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remember and trusted cabinet member he
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says in his testimony they spoke to an
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an unnamed Republican mentor who said to
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him if you feel like you can serve the
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country even if you have misgivings you
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should do so and he went and he's
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provided what is the most vivid
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accounting yet of what happened in
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potentially the most damning tale that's
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right under oath and now the ball
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certainly goes to the Republicans to say
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how do you react to this it's
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interesting make it when you read the
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testimony and you think about what was
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in the testimony what is in the
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testimony does it fit under the
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definition of bribery or extortion it's
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a good question a minute it's pressure
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and these people are in the fight for
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their lives it's it's incredible to put
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they did to clearly make it so that
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lives were on the line to really spell
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out that the Ukrainians to die and
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that's sort of the first time we've
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heard that he just he describes that
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scene of looking over a bridge and
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they're just Russian soldiers at the
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disputed territory and thinking to
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himself more Ukrainians could die
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because of this it's so staggering and
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it really makes you take into account
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everything this president has said he's
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serious he means it and he doesn't care
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if lives are on the line I mean this has
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been proven and by the way this is the
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White House's account of what happened
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in the very first memo that the White
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House put out and their only defense at
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this point given so many things that are
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on the record and so many people who are
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going on the record is to say yeah get
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over it and the question is can America
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get over a president potentially
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committing a crime in office and shaking
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down another foreign leader and for his
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own political gain is that who we want
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to be thanks for checking out MSNBC on
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