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There’s new reporting this afternoon on the closed-door testimony of top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor, who apparently testified that military aid to Ukraine was contingent on announcing investigations into the Bidens and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election.

The Washington Post obtained a copy of Taylor’s opening statement and reported he “was told release of military aid was contingent on public declarations from Ukraine that it would investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election”:

Taylor walked lawmakers through a series of conversations he had with other U.S. diplomats who were trying to obtain what one called the “deliverable” of Ukrainian help investigating Trump’s political rivals.Taylor said he spoke to Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the U.S. envoy to the European Union.“During that phone call, Amb. Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President [Volodymyr] Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election,” Taylor said in the statement.

The New York Times is also reporting on

what Taylor revealed in his opening statement.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told the Times that Taylor “drew a very direct line in the series of events he described between President Trump’s decision to withhold funds and refuse a meeting with Zelensky unless there was a public pronouncement by him of investigations of Burisma and the so-called 2016 election conspiracy theories.”

The Post‘s report also says Taylor testified that Trump wanted the president of Ukraine “‘‘in a public box’ by making a public statement about ordering such investigations.”