What Went Down On Day 3 Of The Trump Impeachment Hearings

Except he stumbled over his words a bit there, Sarah. I get the sense that Schiff was trying to get Vindman to repeat his concerns in a nice, quick sound bite, but I don’t think that was it.

When is a “favor” a “demand”? “The power disparity between the two leaders” makes it so, Vindman says. That echoes testimony last week that Ukraine needs the U.S. as an ally so much that a polite request would reasonably be read as more than that.

“Without hesitation I knew that I had to report this to the White House counsel. It was my duty to report to the proper people in the chain of command. As I said in my statement, it was inappropriate, improper, for the president to demand an investigation into a political opponent, especially a foreign power,” says Vindman about the July 25 call.