What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

This statement mirrors Taylor’s private testimony, so not much new so far. But the details really are quite explicit and damning for the president: Giuliani being very involved in foreign policy; people constantly referring to “investigations” that Trump wanted; lots of attempts to keep the Ukraine policy “off line” and away from regular channels by taking steps like using WhatsApp; a presidential visit and aid for Ukraine delayed pending these investigations; and lots of people in the government being confused and annoyed by the delays of the visit and the aid.

And that’s significant, to sorta state the obvious, because any and all instances that Democrats can find where Trump himself is orchestrating the Ukraine scheme are … relevant? Damaging? Something?

There’s a lot of detail to go through here in Taylor’s testimony, and much of it has already been reported, but here’s some detail of what’s new: