What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

Hmm, Julia, I think it’s pretty clear at this point that impeachment hasn’t harmed Democrats politically, at least so far. Since the Ukraine news broke, impeachment has been more popular than it is unpopular. And Democrats still lead the generic congressional ballot by about 6 points.

There is at least one important piece of Ukraine-related news coming out of today’s testimony. In his opening statement, Taylor mentioned a new piece of information — while he was at the battlefront in Ukraine, a member of his staff overheard a phone call between Trump and Sondland where Trump asked Sondland about the investigations and Sondland said the Ukrainians were ready to move forward. After the conversation, the staffer asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine, and Sondland reportedly said that “Trump cares more about the investigations into the Bidens.” It was a little odd to hear this filtered through Taylor, but it seems the staffer, who has been identified as David Holmes, a political officer at the embassy in Ukraine, is ready to go on the record. Holmes will be testifying behind closed doors on Friday, which is a big deal because it could provide another direct link between Trump and the push for investigations.

So Julia, the idea is just to revive impeachment as a politically viable check on the executive branch?