Public Impeachment Hearings Start Wednesday

(Image courtesy of Ron Cogswell / Creative Commons)

The first of two days of public hearings in the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into President Donald J. Trump will begin this Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. ET, after more than a month of closed-door depositions on the subject.

Of the three witnesses testifying this week, all have already testified behind closed doors. They were in agreement with an earlier whistleblower who alleged that President Trump had engaged in a quid pro quo deal with Ukraine over $400 million in military aid. In return, Trump allegedly demanded damaging information on Democratic Presidential Candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. 

According to released testimony, pressure from the White House began in June with an offer for a White House visit to new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in exchange for investigations. The first investigation would be into Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company where Hunter Biden was once a board member. The second investigation would be into alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. Both investigations are based on theories that have been widely disproven.

Ukrainian officials refused, and in July, President Trump ordered a halt of military aid to Ukraine. Trump may have also connected military aid to the requested investigations in a late-July phone call, where he responded to a request by President Zelensky to purchase more Javelin missiles by saying, "I would like you to do us a favor though."

Soon after, Gordon Sondland, Ambassador to the European Union began circulating that military aid would be held until Ukraine publicly committed to the investigations, claiming to be carrying out President Trump’s instructions.  President Trump’s administration would withhold military aid to Ukraine until September 11, when they released the aid for reasons that remain unclear.

On Wednesday, William Taylor, a former ambassador and top diplomat in Ukraine, as well as George Kent, a deputy assistant Secretary of State will both testify publicly, following their earlier closed-door testimony on the veracity of the whistleblower complaint. They will also testify to President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani's involvement in the quid pro quo with Ukraine.

On Friday, Marie Yovanovitch will testify. Yovanovitch, who still works at the State Department, was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine until she was removed in May after an effort led by Giuliani to criticize performance as a diplomat and her commitment to President Trump’s policy direction in Ukraine. In earlier testimony, Yovanovitch told lawmakers she’d tried to warn the State Department about Giuliani’s effort to discredit her, but that her concerns went unaddressed.

After this week's testimony is concluded, congressional Democrats expect there to be one more round of witnesses next week.