First public hearing in the Trump impeachment inquiry

Our live coverage of the impeachment inquiry has ended for the day. Read up on the latest news below.

A White House official said top aides believe today’s hearing was a win for President Trump and told him so as he was in between meetings with Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan.

“So how do you think it went,” Trump asked.

“Great day. Big win,” aides told Trump, the official said.

But the official acknowledged Trump is not out of the woods just yet as the public hearings are just getting underway. 

One clear sign of that uncertainty was diplomat Bill Taylor’s testimony that an aide heard Trump talk about “investigations” with US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.

“The overheard phone call was new to every one,” the official said.

The official went on to say that the White House was pleasantly surprised by the performance turned in by GOP lawmakers during the hearing who argued repeatedly the quid pro quo never made it to fruition, as the aid to Ukraine was ultimately released.

The official conceded that Lt. Col Alexander Vindman’s testimony will be a key development during the hearings as he is seen as a solid witness for the Democrats. 

More about the aid and investigation: Trump reportedly held up $400 million in aid to Ukraine as leverage as the President pressed Ukraine to investigate domestic political rivals like former Vice President Joe Biden.

After not having a war room for weeks, apparently the White House Office of Legislative Affairs sent Capitol Hill Republicans so many emails today.

The legislative affair’s office sent sometimes six to seven emails an hour, according to a Republican source with knowledge of the emails.

GOP members were not happy and pushed back, the source said.

The first public impeachment hearing today lived up to the hype, and the daylong affair gave both parties plenty to chew on as the inquiry moves forward.

Here’s what we learned today and what it means for the next steps, as additional witnesses are slated for private interviews and public hearings in the coming days:

The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has declined to open an investigation into the delay of Ukraine military assistance, according to a letter sent to senators. 

Sen. Dick Durbin, along with six other Democratic senators, issued a statement, saying they are disappointed with the decision. The senators said they met with the inspector general’s office in October to discuss the issue.

“We are disappointed that the Defense Department Office of the Inspector General has declined to investigate the Defense Department’s delay of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding appropriated by Congress,” the senators said in their statement.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, one of two Democrats who voted against the House impeachment inquiry resolution, called diplomat Bill Taylor’s testimony today on Capitol Hill “hearsay.”

At the crux of Taylor’s testimony is a July 26 call in which President Trump spoke by phone with Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, about “the investigations” into the Bidens.

The call came one day after Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that prompted a whistleblower complaint that alleged Trump solicited “interference” from a foreign country to help his 2020 presidential campaign.

This information on the July 26 call came from one of Taylor’s staffers who overheard Trump’s phone call with Sondland. 

Van Drew suggested he would need to see evidence such as verifiable documents or an incriminating audio recording of the President to prove the allegations before getting on board with impeachment. 

“Frankly the aid did flow, so that really isn’t an issue at the end of the day,” he added. “The aid flowed, and everything resolved.”

What is this aid exactly?: The aid Van Drew is referring to is nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine that was reportedly held back as leverage as Trump pressed Ukraine to investigate domestic political rivals like former Vice President Joe Biden.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed today’s first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

“What has come forth has further, of course, given us the truth of what happened at the time,” she said.

Pelosi went on to say she was consumed with other legislative matters — prescription drugs, Dreamers, appropriations and the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement today — and caught a “few minutes” of the beginning of the hearing.

Rep. Francis Rooney, a Republican from Florida who has not ruled out supporting impeachment, said the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry would be stronger if they had someone who had direct communication with President Trump alleging wrongdoing.

Asked if Rooney thinks acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney should testify, Rooney said he should.

Where Mulvaney fits in with the impeachment inquiry: Mulvaney and White House counsel Pat Cipollone have engaged in a long-simmering feud over impeachment strategy, each blaming the other as ineffective in preventing Trump’s current predicament.

Last week, Mulvaney defied a congressional subpoena to appear in closed testimony. Investigators want to hear from him after multiple witnesses named him as a key orchestrator of the alleged Ukraine quid pro quo.

Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Intelligence Committee member, told reporters after today’s hearing that he was “pleasantly surprised how civil it ended up being.”

Earlier today: Diplomats Bill Taylor and George Kent testified before the committee at the first public hearing in the impeachment probe. One of the biggest bombshells came from Taylor who discussed a July 26 phone call that happened one day after Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s leader. Taylor testified that his staff was told of the call, in which President Trump said he cared more about the “investigations of Biden” than Ukraine.

In today’s episode of “The Daily DC: Impeachment Watch” podcast, CNN Political Director David Chalian gives:

Chalian is joined today by CNN political analyst Molly Ball and Carrie Cordero, CNN’s legal and national security analyst.

Listen to the podcast here.

At a news conference with the Turkish president, President Trump was asked about new information revealed in today’s public testimony from diplomat Bill Taylor.

Taylor said that on July 26 — one day after Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that prompted a whistleblower complaint that alleged Trump solicited “interference” from a foreign country to help his 2020 presidential campaign — Trump spoke by phone with Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, about “the investigations.”

Trump today denied any knowledge of this call.

Trump called it “more secondhand information.”

He added: “I don’t recall. Not at all. Not even a little bit.”

Rep. Adam Schiff called new information that diplomat Bill Taylor provided today “very important.”

Schiff said Taylor’s testimony — in which he said his aide overheard Trump telling an ambassador he wanted a Biden probe — is evidence that ties the scandal directly to the President, and not any Trump aides.

He added that this witness who was on that call is “potentially very important,” noting that the committee scheduled a closed-door deposition with the staffer for Friday.

More context: David Holmes is the aide who heard the July 26 call between US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and President Trump, according to a source familiar with a scheduled deposition.

Taylor testified today that Sondland told an aide that Trump’s interest in Ukraine was the “investigations of Biden,” and he cared more about an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden than he did about Ukraine.

House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff said today’s impeachment inquiry hearing showed President Trump “sought to advance his political and personal interest at the expense of the United States’ national security.”

Here’s how he put it:

More on this: Taylor explained that Rudy Giuliani’s efforts led to an “irregular” policy channel was “running contrary to the goals of longstanding US policy.” Kent’s testimony also expressed alarm at Giuliani’s efforts — which he described last month as a “campaign of lies” — that led to the ouster of US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and then the push for investigations.

Following today’s first public hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan said, “I think it is a sad chapter for the country but a good day for the facts and the President of the United States.”

Another Republican on the intel committee, Rep. Elise Stefanik, called the hearing “an abject failure for the Democrats and for Adam Schiff.”

Asked about the White House blocking key witnesses from testifying — like acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton. Jordan said, “There is a court case. And I think December 10 they’ll rule. We’ll find out then.”

He added: “We’ll see what the court says on Bolton and Mulvaney.”

Today’s House Intelligence Committee hearing with diplomats Bill Taylor and George Kent just wrapped. The hearing — which lasted nearly six hours — marked the first public testimony of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

If you’re just reading in now, here are the biggest takeaways:

The House Intel committee just reconvened briefly to vote on a motion brought up by Republican member Mike Conaway earlier today to subpoena the whistleblower to testify in the impeachment inquiry.

On a vote to table the motion, there were 13 ayes from Democrats and nine no votes from Republicans on the committee. The motion was tabled.

After the brief recess, the committee will vote on Republican Rep. Mike Conaway’s motion to subpoena whistleblower in a few minutes. 

House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff closed today’s hearing — which marked the first public testimony in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump — by restating that he did not meet with the whistleblower.

What this is all about: The whistleblower at the center of the House’s impeachment inquiry first contacted the staff of the House Intelligence Committee for guidance before sending the complaint to the Trump administration, according to a spokesman and a new report.

While the panel’s staff advised the whistleblower to contact the intelligence community inspector general and seek legal counsel, they did not receive the complaint in advance, wrote Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Schiff said.

Watch here:

Diplomats Bill Taylor and George Kent just finished testifying in the first public hearing in the Trump impeachment inquiry.

The two men are now leaving the room, but lawmakers are staying behind to take up a motion from GOP Rep. Mike Conaway to subpoena the whistleblower to testify.

Both Bill Taylor and George Kent said there was “cause for concern” in Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s president — a conversation Trump has repeatedly called “perfect.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois, first asked Kent: “You don’t believe the July 25 call was perfect. Do you?”

“Ambassador Taylor?” Krishnamoorthi asked.

“I agree,” Taylor said.

Asked what the cause for concern was, Taylor said, “The discussion of the previous ambassador was a cause for concern. ”

Some context: During the July 25 call, Trump disparaged Marie Yovanovitch, former US Ambassador to Ukraine. He called her “bad news” and said, “she’s going to go through some things.”