Week 1 of Public Impeachment Hearings Is Over – Your Reps Want to Hear From You

by Countable's Trump Impeachment Coverage | 11.15.19

• When it comes to public hearings, one of the criticisms often lobbed at members of Congress is that they’re just showboating. Well, if they are, you’re the audience. And they want to hear your thoughts about the first week of public impeachment hearings.

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Main takeaway from each hearing:

Taylor discussed another phone call

• William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat for Ukraine, testified Wednesday that a State Department staffer told him that he overheard Trump asking about "investigations" he wanted Kiev to pursue that might help him in the 2020 election. This call took place on July 26, a day after the now-infamous phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Vladomyr Zelensky.

"The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone asking Ambassador [to the EU Gordon] Sondland about the investigations," Taylor said. When the staffer asked Sondland about Trump’s thoughts on Ukraine, "Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for," Taylor testified.

 Trump accused of ‘witness intimidation’

• Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House investigators last month that she felt “threatened,” “concerned,” and uncomfortable after learning that Trump singled her out during a phone call with Zelensky. In his July 25 phone call with Zelensky, Trump criticized Yovanovitch as “bad news” and said she was “going to go through some things.”
• Just as Yovanovitch testified on Friday that Trump’s words “sounded like a threat,” the president tweeted:

• House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) read the tweets in the hearing about 20 minutes after Trump posted them, adding that "some of us here take witness intimidation very seriously."
• Yovanovitch responded: "It's very intimidating. ... I mean, I can't speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is trying to be intimidating."

 GOP's response

During both hearings, Republican members of the committee railed against the process and the probe itself.

• GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the ranking member on the committee, called Wednesday’s hearing a "carefully orchestrated smear campaign" against Trump.

"This spectacle is doing great damage to our country. It is nothing more than an impeachment process in search of a crime."

• And on Friday, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York used her five minutes to rail against Chairman Adam Schiff's refusal to allow the whistleblower to testify.

"I keep can going but the chairman refused to allow us put these into the record as unanimous consent. It's important to prevent whistleblower from retaliation and firing and want to make sure whistleblowers are able to come forward but in this case the fact we are getting criticized by Chairman Adam Schiff for statements he made early on in the process shows the due duplicity and just the abuse of power that we are continuing to see."

What do you think?

The hearings are public for the benefit of the public—you. Now’s the time to tell your reps what you think of the impeachment probe and what you hope to see during next week’s hearings. Take action above, and share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman