Impeachment watch: Catch up on the latest from explosive testimony of top American diplomat to Ukraine

(CNN)US top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor testified Tuesday that he was told US politics could hold up aid, contradicting US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.

CNN obtained his opening statement. Here are the key points from Taylor's bombshell testimony, along with other things that happened Tuesday and what's on the docket for Wednesday:

Taylor told impeachment investigators that aid to Ukraine could have been held up for political reasons. That essentially confirms the alarm bells he had raised in private text messages the investigators were given weeks ago.

Taylor said he had been told by Sondland that the Trump administration wanted Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation that could help President Donald Trump politically. They wanted Ukraine "in a public box" and publicly committed to investigations before there would be any aid. One key GOP defense of Trump has been that he wanted an investigation of 2016, not 2020. Taylor may have destroyed that argument.

Democrats and one Republican, Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida, said there are inconsistencies between Taylor's and Sondland's testimonies. Sondland said Trump had told him there was no quid pro quo. Rooney called it "asymmetry" with Taylor's testimony. Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia said: "I think Gordon Sondland may very well have to come back. He's got some explaining to do."

A source familiar with Sondland's testimony last week said the GOP donor and Trump ally was only speculating when he referenced the political investigations into the 2016 election and Burisma, according to CNN's reporting. In the text messages, Taylor had told Sondland it was "crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."

Her testimony was also explosive. Taylor plans to return to Ukraine on Wednesday, according to CNN's report. The previous ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, was recalled by Trump. ( Her testimony was also explosive. ) The US special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, abruptly quit his volunteer role shortly after the whistleblower complaint was released. That leaves a man who may believe the US President was improperly involving US politics in Ukraine as the country's point person there. After his testimony, it's hard to understand how he represents the Trump administration. It's also hard to imagine the optics of him being recalled.

Before there was the whistleblower, there was Anonymous, the Trump administration official who wrote of a committed group of government workers doing their best to quietly subvert some of the more dangerous ideas of their boss, the President.

Read Jake Tapper's report But instead of going through the whistleblower law, Anonymous went to The New York Times. In a new book, Anonymous -- and it's not clear if he or she is still working for the government -- will keep their identity under wraps and argue against reelection for Trump. The proceeds will "substantially" go to charity, according to the publisher. Read Jake Tapper's report

SSRSimpeachment and removal Half of Americans say President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS , a new high in CNN polling on the topic and the first time that support for impeachment and removal has significantly outpaced opposition.

The share who say Trump used his office improperly to gain political advantage against a potential 2020 opponent in his interactions with the President of Ukraine stands at 49%, about the same as in the September CNN poll.

The good news for Trump: At the same time, more now say Trump did not use the presidency improperly (43%, up from 39%), as the share who are undecided on the question dipped. That shift was largely driven by a 16-point increase in the share of Republicans who say Trump didn't improperly use the presidency (from 71% to 87%).

It feels like Trump is invoking history, and trying to define his place in it, more and more. He's placing himself alongside the titans of US history one day and comparing himself to the marginalized victims of the country's collective sins the next.

Of all the presidents to put on a pedestal, Trump chose the one that his predecessor, the first black man to hold the job, was trying to take off the $20 bill.

Earlier this month, Trump said the Senate majority leader, his protector in case of a Senate impeachment trial, had told him that the July 25 call where Trump pressured the Ukrainian President was "perfect." It was notable since "perfect" is the way Trump has repeatedly described the call for which Democrats want to impeach him.

It is a crossroads for the American system of government as the President tries to change what's acceptable for US politicians. This newsletter will focus on this consequential moment in US history.

Source: CNN

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