The White House says President Trump is not watching the first public impeachment hearing. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham asserted that Trump is "working" and he has meetings all morning in the Oval Office ahead of the president of Turkey's visit. Trump tweeted earlier this morning that the witnesses testifying today are "Never Trumpers" and "Read the Transcript!" The president has not tweeted since the hearing was gaveled in, except for retweeting a White House video dismissing the hearing as a "hoax." The first witnesses in today's hearings are acting U.S.-Ukraine Ambassador Bill Taylor and George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state.
Acting U.S.-Ukraine Ambassador Bill Taylor claims it's crazy to withhold security assistance to an ally in order to help a political campaign. He made that statement to a colleague in a text, earlier this year, and confirmed it during the first public impeachment hearing in the House. Taylor said he also raised questions about Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's shadow diplomacy in Ukraine. President Trump delayed planned U.S. military aid to Ukraine while pushing Ukraine's president to launch an investigation of Democrats. The aid to Ukraine was eventually released.
Trump has consistently denied doing anything wrong. He has also labeled the impeachment inquiry a hoax, a scam and part of an ongoing witch hunt. In another apparent reference to Giuliani's efforts, Ambassador Taylor said there appeared to be two channels of diplomacy involving Ukraine -- "one regular and one highly irregular." He also noted that the "hold on security assistance for Ukraine" came from acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Last month, Mulvaney told reporters that there is "going to be political influence on foreign policy." He later tried to walk-back the comment.
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