What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

It makes sense to have Kent go first, because he has a longer and broader view about the past few years’ situation in Ukraine. Taylor was only appointed a few months ago, to replace Yovanovitch as the top American diplomat in Ukraine. Taylor’s testimony, on the other hand, may be a little more dramatic because he was included in more conversations about the quid pro quo than Kent. So that’s a reason for Democrats to put him second as well, if they want to build up to his testimony.

Insisting that the whistleblower testify has been a common Republican talking point in the past few weeks. Here are four ways Republicans have been defending Trump, which you might see during the hearing today:

The idea of who is in charge is an interesting one too. So on the one hand, of course the president is in charge of the executive branch; that’s spelled out in the Constitution. But people who work for the executive branch are also accountable in some sense to Congress, and certainly to the people and the Constitution. Defenses that the president is “in charge” usually inspire some backlash about the extent and personal nature of presidential power.