Washington - U.S. Democrats launch the
public phase of their impeachment inquiry into President Donald
Trump next week, with open, televised hearings set for Wednesday
and Friday in the House of Representatives.
Since launching their inquiry on September 24 into allegations
that Trump abused his office for personal political gain,
lawmakers in the Democratic-run House of Representatives have
been holding hearings with current and former officials behind
closed doors. Now they want to take their case for impeachment
to the American public.
Here is what to expect from the hearings.
WHY ARE DEMOCRATS HOLDING THESE HEARINGS?
Democrats want to build a strong public case that Trump
abused his presidential powers by pressuring Ukraine to launch
corruption investigations involving the son of Joe Biden, the
former vice president who is vying to be the Democratic nominee
to run against Trump in the 2020 presidential elections.
Democrats want the broadest possible public support should they
choose to formally impeach Trump, which could happen by
December. Any trial would take place in the Senate, which is
controlled by Trump's Republican Party.
Televised hearings will "be an opportunity for the American
people to evaluate the witnesses for themselves," House
Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said.
In the hearings, the Democrats want to present evidence that
Trump's officials delayed security aid to Kiev and, with the
help of Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, used the lure of
a possible White House meeting with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy to try to get Ukrainian compliance with
Trump's demands.
Trump has denied doing anything wrong.
HOW DO DEMOCRATS PLAN TO MAKE THEIR CASE?
Democrats have invited three diplomats who have previously
testified behind closed doors to recount what they knew or heard
about Trump and Giuliani's dealings with Ukraine. These
witnesses will be questioned by committee staff attorneys as
well as lawmakers including Schiff and the senior Republican on
the committee, Devin Nunes.
The Democrats will ask the diplomats to discuss their
understanding of events before and after a July 25 phone call
between Trump and Zelenskiy. According to a rough White House
transcript of that call, the president pressed Zelenskiy to
investigate a discredited conspiracy theory involving the 2016
election about a Democratic Party computer server, as well as a
Ukrainian energy company in which Hunter Biden had been a board
member.
Democrats are also expected to try to use the hearings to
show that Trump obstructed justice - the basis of another
possible article of impeachment - by detailing how he has
blocked some witnesses from appearing and otherwise refused to
cooperate with their probe. The White House has called the
inquiry partisan and illegitimate as a basis for not
cooperating.
Trump has complained bitterly on Twitter that the process
does not allow him to be represented in the intelligence
committee. "I get NO LAWYER & NO DUE PROCESS," he wrote in one
tweet.
However, Trump and/or his lawyer would be allowed to attend
later hearings before the House judiciary committee, which will
debate what, if any, articles of impeachment should be filed and
sent to the floor for a vote.
WHO ARE THE WITNESSES?
The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, William Taylor, is
considered a critical witness to the case against Trump. Taylor
was upset to find out that security aid to Ukraine, as well as a
White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy, had been
delayed for political reasons.
"It's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a
political campaign," Taylor wrote earlier this year in a text
message released by House investigators.
Another senior U.S. diplomat, George Kent, will appear with
Taylor at Wednesday's hearing. Kent said in closed-door
testimony that he had been alarmed by efforts by Giuliani and
others to pressure Ukraine to accede to Trump's demands.
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will
testify on Friday. She says she was ousted from her post after
she came under attack by Giuliani. She says Giuliani's
associates “may well have believed that their personal financial
ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in
Ukraine.”
The Democrats also could announce additional witnesses they
expect to call to testify.
Republicans intend to request their own witnesses, possibly
including the whistleblower, the U.S. official whose complaint
about Trump's dealings with Ukraine touched off the impeachment
inquiry. Democrats can veto the Republicans' witnesses.
HOW DO REPUBLICANS PLAN TO RESPOND?
Republicans have painted the Democratic-led inquiry as a
partisan exercise and will seek to provide a different narrative
for the millions of Americans expected to watch the hearings,
while attempting to cast doubt on witness testimony.
They said on Friday Representative Jim Jordan, one of
Trump's most aggressive and tenacious defenders, would move to
the intelligence committee for the public hearings phase of the
inquiry.
Republicans may also follow the lead of Republican
Representative Michael Turner, a member of the intelligence
committee who said in September that Trump's telephone
conversation with Zelenskiy was "not ok," but impeachment would
be an "assault" on the electorate.
Republicans are already attacking the Democratic witnesses,
saying that Yovanovitch's recall as ambassador was a side issue,
and that other witnesses' knowledge of key events was largely
third-hand.
"He (William Taylor) is admitting that he had no first-hand
or second-hand knowledge of any of the developments," a
Republican party official told Reuters. "Yet Democrats are
presenting him as their star witness for this whole endeavor to
impeach the president."
Republicans can also be expected to argue that Ukrainian
officials did not feel pressured because they did not even know
the $391 million in security aid had been held up at the time
Trump asked them last July for a "favor." They have also
emphasized that the Ukrainians never announced the
investigations Trump wanted, and that Zelenskiy said he did not
feel "pushed" by Trump.