What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

Taylor’s opening statement is basically what leaked out the other week, laying out what happened when he went over to Ukraine and discovered the formal and informal channels for policy-making.

Something else that’s standing out to me is just how similar these opening statements are to what Taylor and Kent have already said in their closed-door depositions. From one perspective, that makes sense — Democrats clearly want to control the narrative and don’t want unpleasant surprises from their witnesses. On the other hand, it also means that anyone hoping for big, dramatic revelations is likely to be disappointed.

Taylor’s larger point here is not just about his own job and whether he was the right guy to take the post this summer. Instead, he is laying the groundwork for Democrats to argue that formal U.S. policy toward Ukraine had not changed, and so any hedging on U.S. support of Ukraine was being done through informal and inappropriate channels.