What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

Castor is trying to make the “irregular channel” of Ukraine policy seem like not that big a deal. This strikes me as unwise for a couple reasons. First, I don’t think the existence of an irregular channel is what has people so riled up. Second, he’s repeating the not-great phrase “irregular channel” quite a bit!

That point about who’s setting policy is true, Perry — Sondland’s involvement was always a little strange because Ukraine is not actually part of his portfolio. Taylor did say in his closed-door testimony that there can be a place for “irregular” channels in diplomacy, especially when they involve people like Sondland who have the ear of the president. But he added that’s not the case when they undermine normal diplomacy or U.S. interests.

The Republican counsel seems like a good lawyer to me but with really bad facts on his side. I’m not going to pan his performance — Taylor and Kent are credible witnesses and Trump released a transcript admitting to the core allegation, so there’s only so much he can do.