House Democrats Wednesday will put their monthslong effort to impeach President Trump on public trial, beginning with a slate of witnesses they believe will bolster support for their effort to oust Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“How this public process starts is crucial for them,” Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus Research Group, told the Washington Examiner.
This week’s testimony will start with William Taylor, the top United States diplomat in Ukraine who told lawmakers in a closed-door deposition last month that he was informed the U.S. was withholding critical military aid on behalf of Trump, because Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate corruption allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as 2016 election interference.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent will also testify publicly about the influence of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani “in terms of the way the president thought of Ukraine” and that Trump’s view of Ukraine grew negative after he talked by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Friday, ousted Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will testify. In a closed-door deposition, Yovanovitch said she felt threatened by Trump, who recalled her three months early after he was told she was badmouthing him in Ukraine.
“Collectively, these three diplomats bring decades of dedicated and exemplary service to our nation, and I believe it is vitally important that the American people and all Members of Congress hear in their own words what they experienced and witnessed,” Schiff wrote to Democrats on Tuesday.
Schiff told lawmakers additional witnesses would be added, and Democrats know they need to make their case to the public with this week’s hearings.
Polling hasn’t changed much over the past six weeks regarding impeachment. About 48% support impeaching Trump while 46% oppose it, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average. Swing-state polling has found most voters don’t believe Trump should be impeached.
Democrats had been hoping public support would grow since announcing formal proceedings at the end of September, but instead, the numbers have remained mostly flat.
The lack of public enthusiasm for impeachment threatens to hurt Democrats in the 2020 election, where dozens of Democratic lawmakers are running in swing districts where voters would rather see Congress focus on healthcare costs and prescription drugs, not unseating the president.
Swing-state polling has found most voters don’t believe Trump should be impeached, and a poll conducted by the House GOP campaign arm last month found two-thirds of voters in swing districts Republicans hold or hope to win believe “Democrats in Congress are too obsessed with impeaching the President” and should be working on other issues.
Republicans in the House and Senate are playing up the Democrats’ dedication to impeachment over passing other legislative priorities, such as a critical defense authorization bill and a long-awaited trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
“House Democrats have enough time to continue their three-year-old obsession with impeaching the president, but they cannot find time to pass a landmark trade deal that would create 176,000 jobs,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.
Democrats have taken steps to maximize their impeachment message.
Trump’s White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, won’t be allowed to defend the president. Schiff has also rejected GOP witnesses who would have reinforced Trump’s position that Ukraine should investigate Biden’s efforts while vice president to oust a Ukrainian prosecutor who was targeting a gas company that employed his son, Hunter Biden.
Schiff is moving to shut down any effort by the GOP to show the impeachment proceedings were orchestrated by the Democrats. In a memo issued Tuesday, Schiff warned Republicans not to try to out the anonymous whistleblower who launched the impeachment investigation with a complaint about Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president. Republicans want to find out how much contact the whistleblower had with Schiff and his staff prior to filing the complaint.
Schiff warned Tuesday that attempting to reveal the whistleblower would violate the rules of the House, although the rules of the House do not specifically prohibit revealing the name of a government whistleblower.
Former Rep. Harold Ford, a moderate Democrat from Tennessee, told Fox News Monday that everyone will be evaluating the credibility of the witnesses Democrats put on display for questioning and cross-examination by the Republicans.
By the end of the week, Ford said, “We are going to have a very strong sense” of where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stands on bringing up articles of impeachment.
