WASHINGTON - Wednesday´s start of public impeachment hearings in Congress marked the first time that the American public could watch and listen to the witnesses whose testimony is at the core of the Democrats´ investigation.In several hours of testimony, punctuated by occasional bickering among lawmakers, some memorable moments emerged.Some key takeaways from the first public witnesses, George Kent and William Taylor:TRUMP PUSHED FOR BIDEN INVESTIGATIONHearings like this one can be scripted affairs. But there was an early surprise.Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, revealed for the first time that his staff members overheard President Donald Trump speaking on the phone to another diplomat about investigations.Taylor said some of his staff members were at a restaurant with Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, the day after the July 25 call between Trump and Ukraine´s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.Sondland used his cellphone to call Trump from the restaurant, and the staff members could hear Trump on the phone asking about `the investigations.` Taylor took that to mean investigations into former Vice-President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and the Burisma Group, the Ukrainian firm that had hired Hunter Biden as a director in 2014, he told lawmakers.Taylor said he only learned about the call last Friday and didn´t know about it when he appeared for a closed-door deposition with House investigators conducting the impeachment inquiry.___IS IT BRIBERY OR A QUID PRO QUO?The impeachment inquiry in many respects is about controlling the narrative. On Wednesday, Democrats seemed to start to frame Trump´s actions as possible `bribery` and `extortion` rather than emphasizing a `quid pro quo.`House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., introduced the notion of bribery when he criticized the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, for saying that people concerned about Trump´s requests that Ukraine do politic ...
|