Former UN ambassador: Republicans have made a ‘devil’s bargain’ to accept Trump

In an interview with CNN, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power spoke about the implications of top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine William Taylor’s testimony to the House on Tuesday, saying that his statement could cause a shift in the impeachment inquiry. She also said that GOP lawmakers had made a ‘devil’s bargain’ to accept Trump. 

“I do worry,” Power said, “that there are a number of Republican enablers who have just long ago made a Faustian bargain, a devil’s bargain, and decided if we can get the judges, we’re gonna go along with whatever assault on the rule of law, assault on the Constitution that we have to in order to fill the courts and have our worldview projected for years to come.”

{mosads}When asked by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria if she sees Taylor’s testimony as a “turning point,” Power replied “I think it should be, and certainly the fact that you see certain governors and Republican officials throughout the country raising their voices, expressing their concern is a good sign.”

Some Republicans have made a “devil’s bargain” to allow “assault on the Constitution,” former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power says at #CITIZENCNN https://t.co/NNeZNCxXZn pic.twitter.com/pQobpytyMU

— CNN (@CNN) October 24, 2019

Taylor’s testimony contradicts the Trump’s administration’s repeated statement that there was no quid pro quo between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“During our call on Sept. 8, Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman,” Taylor told House lawmakers, referring to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. 

“When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before singing the check,” Taylor continued.

Additionally, Power noted that it was “beyond the pale” to “hold back assistance to a country that has been invaded as leverage in order to really ask a foreign government to manufacture dirt on a political opponent.”