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Public Impeachment Hearing Analysis From Nixon, Clinton Figures

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George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Ukrainian Ambassador Bill Taylor (front), the top diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, arrive in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump Washington on Nov. 13, 2019. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)
George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Ukrainian Ambassador Bill Taylor (front), the top diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, arrive in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump Washington on Nov. 13, 2019. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

We hear from two people involved in the Nixon and Clinton impeachments and their analysis of testimony in Day 1 of impeachment hearings about President Trump.

Guests

Elizabeth Holtzman, former member of the United States House of Representatives who served New York City for four terms. She served on the House Judiciary Committee, where she supported impeaching President Richard Nixon. Former district attorney for Brooklyn and New York City comptroller. Author of "The Case For Impeaching Trump."

Jonathan Turley, a constitutional scholar, he teaches Public Interest Law at George Washington University’s School of Law. He testified as a constitutional expert in the Clinton impeachment hearings, in favor of impeachment. He represented four former U.S. Attorneys General during the Clinton impeachment litigation. (@JonathanTurley)

From The Reading List

Associated Press: "Impeachment witness says Trump asked about Ukraine probes" — "Career U.S. diplomat William Taylor advanced fresh testimony tying President Donald Trump to efforts pressing Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political rivals as House investigators launched historic public impeachment hearings Wednesday.

"Republicans retorted that the Democrats still have no more than second- and third-hand knowledge of allegations that Trump held up millions of dollars in military aid from the Eastern European nation facing Russian aggression.

"The hearing, the first on television for the nation to see, provided hours of partisan back-and-forth but so far no singular moment etched in the public consciousness as grounds for removing the 45th president from office."

New York Times: "Key Moments From the First Public Impeachment Hearing" — "The top Ukraine diplomat revealed he was told that Trump was more concerned about investigations of Biden than Ukraine.

"Mr. Taylor offered a new detail in his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday about how Mr. Trump’s preoccupation with investigating the former vice president and his family had affected his actions toward Ukraine.

"Mr. Taylor said that a member of his staff overheard a telephone conversation in which the president mentioned 'the investigations' to Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, who told him 'that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.' After the call, the aide asked Mr. Sondland what the president thought of Ukraine, in Mr. Taylor’s telling. The ambassador 'responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for.' "

CBS News: "Diplomat says aide heard Trump ask about 'investigations' day after Ukraine call" — "The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine revealed new information about the events at the center of the House impeachment inquiry as the first open hearings before the House Intelligence Committee got underway Wednesday.

"Bill Taylor, the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kiev, said in his opening statement that he recently learned about a conversation a member of his staff overheard between President Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the E.U. The conversation supposedly took place on July 26, the day after the president's now-infamous call with the Ukrainian president."

This program aired on November 14, 2019.

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