What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

Schiff all but says obstruction of justice will be among the impeachment charges just now.

Last Thursday Democrats released three questions they said they will use to guide the public impeachment hearings. They are:

1. Did the president request that a foreign leader and government initiate investigations to benefit the president’s personal political interests in the United States, including an investigation related to the president’s political rival and potential opponent in the 2020 U.S. presidential election?
2. Did the president – directly or through agents – seek to use the power of the Office of the President and other instruments of the federal government in other ways to apply pressure on the head of state and government of Ukraine to advance the president’s personal political interests, including by leveraging an Oval Office meeting desired by the president of Ukraine or by withholding U.S. military assistance to Ukraine?
3. Did the president and his administration seek to obstruct, suppress or cover up information to conceal from the Congress and the American people evidence about the president’s actions and conduct?

And it seems as if Schiff’s staying on track in his opening statement by laying the groundwork for all three of these questions.

It’s worth noticing the characters in the Ukraine saga who almost certainly won’t be appearing in this first phase of the public hearings — including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who said the White House ordered the freeze on the security assistance but quickly backtracked. The White House’s refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry hasn’t stopped Taylor, Kent and more than a dozen other witnesses from testifying, but it does mean that some of the key players aren’t sharing what they know. Democrats are betting they don’t need that testimony — and we’ll soon see if they’re right.