Fox News anchor Chris Wallace calls impeachment testimony 'very damaging' to Trump. The network earlier ran a graphic referring to Bill Taylor as a "Never Trumper"
- Fox News anchor Chris Wallace argued that testimony given by Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, during Wednesday's impeachment hearing was "very damaging to the president."
- "He is a pretty impressive presence up there. And, I think, very nonpolitical," Wallace said.
- Meanwhile on Wednesday, Fox displayed statements from the White House undermining both Taylor and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, while they spoke during the hearings.
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Fox News anchor Chris Wallace argued on Wednesday that Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, was "very impressive" during the first day of public impeachment hearings, and called Taylor's testimony "very damaging to the president."
Taylor testified on Wednesday, and in previous closed-door hearings, that President Donald Trump withheld $391 million in US security assistance and a White House meeting from Ukraine as a way to pressure the country to investigate his political rivals.
"I think that William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president," Wallace said on the air on Wednesday.
The veteran Fox anchor, who is part of the straight news programming that often contrasts sharply with Fox's primetime opinion shows, added that Taylor appeared nonpartisan and trustworthy. Wallace also said the Vietnam vet's voice sounded like that of storied journalist Edward R. Murrow.
"He is a pretty impressive presence up there. And, I think, very nonpolitical," Wallace went on. "He went out of his way to talk about what he knew, what he was specifically testament to. The only thing he talked about was a strong feeling that it was in the US national security interest to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia. But he certainly wasn't taking any partisan position."
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Fox News displayed statements from the White House undermining both Taylor and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, while they spoke during the hearings.
"President Trump dismissed Taylor as a 'never Trumper'," the graphics read. "White House called Taylor's closed-door testimony 'triple hearsay.'"
Taylor revealed on Wednesday that one of his staffers overheard Trump ask Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, about Ukrainian "investigations" in a previously unreported July 26 phone call. According to the staffer, Sondland told Trump "that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward."
When the staffer asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine, the ambassador "responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for," Taylor said.