• U.S. Donald Trump suggests with a retuit that if he is dismissed there will be another civil war in the US
  • Keys: From 'Russiagate' to 'Ukrainegate'

An American diplomat on Tuesday gave an "explosive" testimony about the case of Ukraine that shakes US policy, placing President Donald Trump, who is under threat of political trial, in a particularly delicate situation.

Very annoying, the president compared the procedure with a view to dismissing it with a "lynching" , a word full of meaning in the United States, where it is associated with the murder of blacks by whites during the 19th and 20th centuries, essentially in the south.

The Democrats who control the House of Representatives seek to determine if Trump used US foreign policy for personal political purposes. Specifically, they want to know if the Republican president pressured Ukraine, through economic blackmail, to investigate the alleged corruption of former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, a favorite candidate to challenge him for reelection in 2020.

According to The Washington Post , in a testimony behind closed doors in Congress, Bill Taylor, in charge of US business in Ukraine , reinforced suspicions against Trump on Tuesday.

Taylor reported that Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union (EU), had made it clear that Trump had linked the delivery of aid to Ukraine to Kiev announcing an investigation into the son of Biden, a member of the board of directors of A Ukrainian company. Sondland "told me (...) that everything was related to such an announcement, including financial aid," Taylor said, according to the newspaper. But the White House on Tuesday rejected the testimony of the official before Congress denouncing a campaign of "defamation" of the Democrats.

"It was the most condemnatory testimony"

"President Trump has done nothing wrong, this is a coordinated campaign of defamation of far-left lawmakers and radical bureaucrats who were not elected to war against the Constitution," said White House press officer Stephanie Grisham in a statement.

"What I heard today from Bill Taylor was very disturbing and explosive," Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat said on his Twitter account. "It was simply the most condemnatory testimony I heard," said lawmaker Debbie Wasserman Schultz, also a Democrat.

In a message sent in early September to Sondland, Taylor was openly concerned about the White House's pressure on the Ukrainian Presidency. "It seems crazy to suspend security assistance in exchange for a helping hand for a political campaign," he wrote.

A CNN poll published on Tuesday showed that 50% of Americans support a Trump impeachment process , compared to 43% who are against it. However, proof of the strong partisan division among voters, 87% of Democrats are in favor of impeachment, compared to only 6% of Republicans.

"Lynching?", Word "unfortunate" -

A few hours before Taylor's testimony, Trump put himself more than ever in the role of victim. "If one day a Democrat is president and Republicans win the House of Representatives, even by a smaller margin, they can take the president to political trial without due process or justice or any legal right," he tweeted.

"All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing: a lynching. But we will win!"

Trump's tweet caused strong reactions in the capital of the United States.

Surprisingly, Mitch McConnell, leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, who does not usually criticize the president, expressed his disagreement.

" Given the history in our country, I would not compare this with a lynching, " McConnell told reporters. "That was an unfortunate choice of words."

James Clyburn, a Democratic lawmaker from South Carolina, said no president should use that term. "I come from the south ... it is a word that should be used with a lot of caution," said this black congressman.

"I have carefully studied presidential history, we have never seen anything like that," he added, noting that the other three American presidents who faced an investigation or impeachment process - Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton - never made such a reference.

Julian Castro, the Democratic presidential candidate of Hispanic origin, considered that "it is more than shameful" to use that term only "because he is held responsible for his actions."

"A lynching? 4,743 people were lynched in the United States between 1882 and 1968, including 3,446 African Americans, " said Kristen Clarke, who chairs a civil rights organization, recalling that "unpleasant" chapter in the history of the United States.

The White House defended the use of this word by ensuring there was no historical reference. "The president was not trying to compare himself with the terrible history of this country," said Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for the Executive.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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