Day One of Impeachment Public Hearings

In Day One of public testimony in the impeachment inquiry, the interim ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor and another high ranking diplomat, George Kent, talked about the efforts by EU Ambassador Sondland and Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to push Ukrainian President Zelensky to open an investigation into Joe & Hunter Biden, or at least publicly announce that he was doing so. Their testimony showed how this inquiry is about much more than the literal words in one phone call, but involves a web of carrot-and-stick pressure tactics. The lever that was being used to discredit Vice President Biden was not just the military aid package, but Zelensky's desire for a White House meeting with Trump. One part of Taylor's testimony that I found particularly revealing was that while he was trying to get the frozen military aid released, the National Security Council was caught up with Trump's efforts to buy Greenland! Neither Taylor nor Kent are claiming to have spoken directly to Trump about what was happening in Ukraine, nor were they expected to provide legal analysis regarding whether Trump's actions were impeachable.

Republicans, as was expected, did not address the facts of the case. They made a great show of asking the witnesses if they were "on the call", which they weren't, which is also irrelevant. (For all the Republican focus on "second and third-hand testimony, you'd think that all those closest to Trump would be tripping over themselves to testify, instead of refusing to testify, or asking the courts to intervene) They were asked whether anything in the phone call was impeachable. They did not answer, as this is not their area of expertise and not the purpose of their testimony. They assailed the patriotism of the witnesses and accused them of being "deep state" operatives out to get Trump, even though Taylor was recruited by the Trump administration to come out of retirement and take the Ukraine posting after the former ambassador was fired for "disloyalty".

Another Republican strategy is to point out that the aid to Ukraine was eventually released, neglecting to mention that it was released only after Congress threatened to take action to release it on their own. Repeated calls for the whistle-blower to testify are also a featured part of the Republicans "strategy".

So far it's evident that the impeachable offense is not merely a phone call where the intent can be (implausibly) explained away, a conversation that exists in some kind of vacuum, but a series of actions by Trump and those loyal to him, make it clear that this more than just the phone call, but an extended effort to solicit foreign help to influence a U.S. election.