What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

Taylor is being careful not to infer. Has said things in his testimony like, “I don’t know. I don’t know what Ambassador Bolton had in mind.” And earlier said, “What I can do here for you today is tell you what I heard from people.”

One thing I think the testimony has done well so far is to emphasize the power differential between Ukraine and the U.S. — and by extension, Zelensky and Trump. Zelensky was a new political leader eagerly looking for the legitimacy that a meeting with Trump would give him. His country was at war with Russia and desperately in need of security assistance. This context helps clarify why the Ukrainians couldn’t just shrug off the pressure from Trump’s allies, despite advice from many people not to get involved in U.S. politics — they were really in a precarious situation.

I think Taylor (Kent has mostly been on the sidelines…) has done a good job laying out a detailed timeline of the Ukraine negotiations so that it’s all in one place. That could help people who are just tuning into this whole thing now. The new tidbit of information, about overhearing Trump on the phone, also does a fair bit to implicate the president. But we haven’t really heard from Republicans yet, which I think will be important for how public opinion responds.