Today's House Intelligence Committee hearing with diplomats Bill Taylor and George Kent — which lasted nearly six hours — marked the first public testimony of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Here are the biggest takeaways.
Democrats think today has successfully laid the groundwork for their impeachment caseHouse Democrats believe that the testimony of Bill Taylor and George Kent today has been successful in laying the groundwork of their impeachment inquiry, setting the stage for the full timeline of events of how the aid and a meeting were withheld while the President sought investigations into his rivals.
The witnesses may not have direct knowledge of Trump’s thinking — as Republicans have pointed out — but they have plenty of firsthand knowledge about the events that occurred in the past few months that tie back to Trump’s demands.where he pushed the Ukraine investigations — and they’re likely to hear from the aide who heard the call directly on Friday.
Republicans have been making a big deal about Taylor being the star witness, and he is no doubt important, Democratic aides and lawmakers say. But Democrats see these witnesses as foundational, and the bigger ones are still to come — including Sondland, who will have a lot of clarifying to do about his conversations with Trump.
One aide acknowledged that the testimony on Ukraine is confusing, particularly for people who have not followed the story that closely. This isn’t as obvious of an issue as the Clinton impeachment — it’s a complicated foreign policy quid pro quo, and so if the hope was today would clarify everything to people at home, the aide said this may not have 100% hit the mark.
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