--- ---  # 'Ultimately Alarming Circumstances.' Read Acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor's Full Opening Statement to Congressional Investigators by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 22, 2019 9:28 PM UTC  Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, arrives to the Capitol for a deposition related to the House's impeachment inquiry on Oct. 22, 2019. Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, arrives to the Capitol for a deposition related to the House's impeachment inquiry on Oct. 22, 2019.Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 22, 2019 9:28 PM UTC In Bill Taylor’s opening statement to lawmakers, obtained by TIME, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine says that he was told that President Donald Trump would withhold military aid from the country until it publicly announced investigations that would benefit him politically. Testifying behind closed doors, acting Ambassador Taylor told Congress that he was alarmed that the Trump administration would leverage security aid in exchange for investigations into Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, as well as the 2016 election, which he called “weird” and “crazy.” Read the full statement here: --- > “” --- Read Bill Taylor's Opening Statement for Impeachment Inquiry ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5707713/bill-taylor-opening-statement-impeachment-inquiry/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5707713/bill-taylor-opening-statement-impeachment-inquiry/"},"headline":"'Ultimately Alarming Circumstances.' Read Acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor's Full Opening Statement to Congressional Investigators","datePublished":"2019-10-22T21:28:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:37:11.356Z","description":"Read William Taylor's opening statement, which was obtained by TIME, on Ukraine and Donald Trump.","url":"https://time.com/5707713/bill-taylor-opening-statement-impeachment-inquiry/","keywords":["Congress","Ukraine","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf49a0256e4bf9c/698a04ba16d8846ce0c372b5/gettyimages-1177544554.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf49a0256e4bf9c/698a04ba16d8846ce0c372b5/gettyimages-1177544554.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Taylor Deposition","caption":"Bill Taylor Deposition","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5707713/bill-taylor-opening-statement-impeachment-inquiry/","name":"'Ultimately Alarming Circumstances.' Read Acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor's Full Opening Statement to Congressional Investigators"}}]}] ```