Impeach inquiry: Dems plead case as GOP defends Trump
WASHINGTON • The House held televised presidential impeachment hearings for the first time in two decades, affording Democrats an opportunity to make the case to the nation that President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine merit removing him from office and Republicans the chance to defend the president as acting to counter corruption in that country.
The first of nearly two weeks of hearings, which lasted more than six hours in a House office building, featured William Taylor, acting ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior State Department official. Both had testified in private previously but offered new disclosures Wednesday, including an account of a July phone call linking the president more closely to the pressure campaign on Ukraine.
The hearing marked the first time witnesses publicly faced questions from both parties’ staff counsel and lawmakers on the Democrats’ central contention: that Trump abused his office by withholding security aid to Ukraine just as he was pressing the country to announce investigations that he sought, including one into his potential 2020 election foe, Democrat Joe Biden.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., opened the hearing with a central question: whether the president sought to “exploit” Ukraine’s vulnerability as it fights a Russia-backed insurgency in the east of the country and used security assistance and a White House meeting as leverage.
Republicans, in their most public defense of the president, sought to portray portions of Taylor’s testimony as hearsay and said investigations pushed for in Ukraine were a necessary means of fighting corruption in the country. They also at times sought to build a case for further examination of unsubstantiated theories that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election, and they called for more information about a whistleblower whose initial complaint about the president triggered the impeachment inquiry.
“If there actually were indications of Ukraine election meddling, and foreign election meddling is a dire threat, then President Trump would have a perfectly good reason for wanting to find out what happened,” said Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.
The witnesses, however, said there was little merit to the investigations the president sought. Kent, asked for the basis for allegations by Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani against Biden and his son Hunter, said he had “none whatsoever.” He also said the former vice president’s anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine while he was in office were “critically important,” though he acknowledged that the reputation of a Ukrainian company whose board Hunter Biden served on was “mixed.” He also said there was “no factual basis” for allegations of Ukrainian election interference.
Democrats also contested Republicans’ assertions that the president was seeking to combat corruption broadly beyond what would help him politically. “I don’t think President Trump was trying to end corruption in Ukraine,” said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. “I think he was trying to aim corruption in Ukraine at Vice President Biden and at the 2020 election.”
Taylor on Wednesday reiterated that he saw a link between the aid to Ukraine and investigations Trump wanted the country to pursue. In a new disclosure, Taylor said that since testifying behind closed doors, he had heard from a member of his staff who was present for a July 26 call between Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, and the president. In the call, which took place a day after Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump asked Sondland about “the investigations.” Sondland, who had met with Zelensky that day, replied that the Ukrainians were “ready to move forward,” Taylor testified.
“Following the call with President Trump, the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine,” Taylor testified. “Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden.”
At a news conference Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump denied knowledge of a call with Sondland, a hotelier who had been a Trump donor.
“I know nothing about that. First time I’ve heard it,” the president said in response to a question, describing the allegation of the call as “secondhand information.”
Trump also said he was “too busy” doing the people’s business to watch the impeachment hearings .
The disclosure undercut an argument by the president’s allies that Trump’s request to Zelensky for investigations, visible in a rough transcript of the July 25 that the White House has released, were passing comments.
The witnesses, who both have decades of public service under administrations of both parties, repeatedly said they weren’t seeking to take sides in the inquiry. But both said they were alarmed by what they described as dual channels of conducting foreign policy toward Ukraine — one of them led by Giuliani — and that the president’s push for investigations concerned them.
“Was Giuliani promoting U.S. national interest or policy in Ukraine?” Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., asked the witnesses.
“I don’t think so, ma’am,” Taylor replied. “No, he was not,” Kent said. “I believe he was looking to dig up political dirt against a potential rival in the next election cycle.” Taylor agreed.
Both witnesses also said they were deeply concerned by the president’s push for investigations, especially as it related to congressionally approved aid to Ukraine.
“It’s one thing to try to leverage a meeting in the White House,” Taylor testified.
“It’s another thing, I thought, to leverage security assistance, security assistance to a country at war dependent on both the security assistance and the demonstration of support. It was much more alarming.”
House Democrats are seeking to use public hearings to build more support for removing the president from office. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found a slim majority of Americans — 53% — said they approved of the impeachment inquiry, compared with 44% who said they disapproved. Some 49% said Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 46% said they opposed such measures.
The hearing on Wednesday kicked off a series of public depositions in the next week.
Acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, left, and
senior State Department official George Kent arrive to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington
during the first public impeachment hearing
.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump prepare to welcome Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
wife
Emine
to the White House on Wednesday
.
Acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, right, and senior State Department official George Kent are sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington
during the first public impeachment hearing
.