President Trump's baffling desire to buy Greenland got in the way of actual important work, acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor revealed during congressional testimony last month.
A transcript of Taylor's testimony to House impeachment investigators was made public on Wednesday. In his deposition, Taylor described what it was like in the weeks after Trump decided in mid-July to put a hold on military aid to Ukraine. In August, Cabinet members and top national security officials were desperate to hold a meeting with Trump about the matter, Taylor said, because Ukraine needed the money to fight off Russian military aggression.
While they all agreed a meeting with Trump needed to take place, it was difficult to set a date, Taylor said. Most of the Cabinet members had overseas work trips scheduled, and staffers who should have been involved in organizing the meeting were busy trying to find a way to make Trump's inexplicable dream of purchasing Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, come true.
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"I think this was also about the time of the Greenland question, about purchasing Greenland, which took up a lot of energy in the NSC [National Security Council]," Taylor said. In response, Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said: "Okay. That's disturbing for a whole different reason."
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