What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

Sarah, one point I’d emphasize for people following along at home is that while I’ve talked a lot about foreign policy being low-salience for most voters, this morning’s testimony has put the Ukraine situation in deeper context by laying out the strategic importance of the country and the stakes of our policy there. The second point is that the testimony has continued to point to Trump’s involvement, as opposed to just actions by others like Giuliani. The third is that there has been a lot of emphasis on the political intent of the conversations about aid to Ukraine — not trying to make their policies more pro-U.S. in some way, but being linked to Trump’s own political career.

Taylor specifically pointed a finger at the President’s acting chief of staff, claiming Mulvaney’s team was directly involved in withholding military aid to Ukraine. Then he said a member of his own staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about “the investigations.” That was new and, if true, would imply that the president was personally involved.

It’s still remarkable to me how close the Ukrainians came to announcing the investigation. Zelensky was apparently ready to go on CNN on September 13. Then two days before the interview, the security aid was released and the interview was canceled. Things could have gone very differently if the news of the frozen aid hadn’t leaked.