Pressure a foreign country to investigate a political rival . Did they try to withhold u. S. Military aid to that country in the middle of a war until that investigation was announced publicly . If democrats dont make their case today right out of the gate, it will only get more challenging in the coming days and weeks. As for republicans, they hope to poke holes in the testimony shifting their strategy fromce undercutting the substance of the democratic narrative. Were covering all the angles on this historic day as these hearings are set to begin. Lets go to our senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju. Hes live on capitol hill. Lets talk a little bit about what we can expect the format. Its going to be very significant. No question about it. Both sides recognize the significance of this moment believing this could set the stage for how the public understands what the president did and whether his conduct is impeachable or not. Yesterday behind the scenes, democrats and republicans strategized for several hours apiece trying to figure out their best lines of questioning. Democrats want george kent and bill taylor, the two witnesses today, to detail the full timeline of events. What they witnessed in the concerns that they raised about the president enlisting his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to carry out ukraine policy, essentially urge the Ukrainian Government to open up investigations into the president s political rivals. Expect bill taylor to make clear what he said behind closed doors, that he believed he was told that the ukrainian aid, roughly 400 million, provided to ukraine to combat russian aggression, that that was tied to the ukraine publicly announcing those investigations. Also george kent making clear that he also believed that a visit at the white house with the new president of ukraine, zelensky, was contingent on that public announcement of investigations. Now republicans will push back and make the case this way saying they these two witnesses had no direct knowledge about exactly what the president was doing. What he was thinking. Thats going to be a consistent theme throughout as they try to undercut the credibility of this testimony. But right from the start, wolf, expect adam schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman to make it clear. Lay out the scope of this investigation. Make clear what he believes is the president s misconduct and detail why it was critical for ukraine to get this aid to combat russian aggression. So the tone will be set from the top as we get set for two weeks of intense public hearings that could set the stage for this president to be just the third in American History to be impeached, wolf. And manu tell our viewers why this hearing is about to begin will look different than previous congressional hearings where you have the fiveminute rule. Today its totally different. Totally different because democrats want to get into the substance of the allegations right from the top. Typically as you said, wolf, member after member get five minutes apiece to ask dwes. Often times members devolve into speech making and dont ask those pointed questions. Thats going to be different in this round because there are two staff attorneys from the democratic side first and the republican side who will begin that round of questioning. Thats dan goldman on the democratic side, the chief counsel in charge of the investigations on democratic side who will be asking the questions for 45 minutes. Then adam schiff will work in questions with dan goldman to ask those questions. Then it will be kicked over to the republican side, and thats steve castor, the attorney for jim jordan, the top republican. Castor will be asking those questions for about a 45minute round. Then well get into the fiveminute rounds of questioning from member, from member to ask those questions. So expect this to be a lot different to how weve seen impeachment hearings in the past because democrats hope that theyll be able to draw out this narrative for 45minute question and answer session. Allow these witnesses to get into real detail about what they witnessed and what they saw and republicans hope that their 45minute round will allow them to push back. Wolf . Its going to be very significant. Manu, well get back to you, especially as the witnesses arrive and members arrive as well. Gloria, this process, daniel goldman, the House Intelligence Committees director of investigations, former u. S. Assistant attorney, hes going to be focusing in on these two witnesses, getting them to say said in closed door sworn eady depositions that there was this socalled quid pro quo, that the president of the United States was using his political advantage to get dirt on potential political a potential political rival. And i think the first thing hes going to do before that is have them talk about who they are and how unimpeachable they are as witnesses. Their credibility, their years of Public Service. You know, i think george kent has been in Public Service his family has been in Public Service for decades. And i think hes going to try and show that these are people without political motive. But actually, people who are devoted to the country and to the state department. And then have them in tandem in a way describe what they saw and how u. S. Foreign policy had run amok and how money that had actually been appropriated this is important appropriated by the United States congress was being held up for brazen political purposes by the president of the United States and how Rudy Giuliani was effectively running Foreign Policy as opposed to mike pompeo. Wolf, you know the public nature of this is what democrats understand is so important. What have americans heard about the deep state, about allegations of a coup from the president and his supporters . Instead were going to find dedicated Public Servants in the diplomatic corps who have served republicans and democrats. These are not partisan people. Of course, some of the people who are very uncomfortable were in fact, political appointees by this president. I think thats going to be quite impactful. The larger question, the larger context about whether its impeachable will, obviously, be debated. But i think to glorias point, who were seeing for the first time is going to give a face to the notion of faceless bureaucrats and whistleblowers going after the president. I think democrats understand they need to chip away at that right away. Its a problem potentially for the republican counsel steve castor. The House Oversight gop counsel but hes been detailed over to the Intelligence Committee to handle the questioning in all of this. You have these two experienced diplomats, ambassador bill taylor and deputy assist angt secretary george tent, and i assume hes going to try to undermine their credibility which could be problematic. It is problematic because of who they are and because of their records in Public Service. Bill taylor, west point grad. Served in vietnam for instance. Theyll probably try to do that. I think probably more effective line of questioning will try to get at the fact that they never talked to the president , right . That this is essentially hearsay. And its also their interpretation of what they thought was going on, right . They dont have any sort of firsthand knowledge that this was the president s directive. So i think that is the line of questioning theyll get at. And its a fruitful line of questioning. Its a powerful argument. They can insulate the president from some of their claims and say essentially, you know, these were people who werent really in on what the president s thinking was. This is just their interpretation. Something else thats intangible when we look at this is how they appear on tv, right . I mean, this very much is a show, right . And they, obviously, have impeccable resumes. But do they appear credible on air . Do people believe what they say . Do they seem steady under pressure . That will be something else, i think, people are going to be watching for and sort of intangible. We dont know how these people appear on air. Weve seen their statement so far and well see how they appear and how people interpret their credibility. How they deal with what could be some crossexamination by the republican counsel thats coming up. Our senior White House Correspondent pamela brown is getting new information at the white house. The president has been busy tweeting already. He has been very busy tweeting already. He is gearing up to watch the morning portion of these hear,s before his meetings begin with turkish president erdogan. In the tweets this morning, hes going after the democrats involved in this and even the witnesses, wolf, calling them never trumpers. These two witnesses are still in this administration. Theyre career diplomats. Theyve worked for administrations on both sides of the aisle. But the president s tweets give you a glimpse of the white house strategy today. Focusing on these witnesses, they are going to be quick to point out they were not on the call in july with president zelensky of ukraine. That they never spoke to the president directly about ukraine. So part of the strategy here is to really undermine the witnesses credibility. As one official i spoke to here at the white house said, they are expecting these witnesses to say things about this president , about the white house, the ukraine policy that are not flattering, but they do not believe it will be a clean shot for the democrats because of the distance from President Trump. But there is going to be a Rapid Response approach at the white house with legislative affairs, the White House Counsels Office and Communications Teams working together monitoring the developments in realtime. Sending out notes to surrogates and talking points, and this is a very busy monumental day here at the white house, wolf, because not only do you have these public hearings, the first set of public hearings in the impeachment probe but you also have the meeting with the turkish president erdogan, a month after the president pulled u. S. Troops out of syria paving the way for the turkish invasion there and really causing this backlash from congress. And so that is also going to be a big focus here today. Now there will be a joint press conference at 3 10 p. M. Eastern time where we can hear from the president for the first time on his thoughts on whats transpiring. Stand by, pamela. I want to bring in kylie atwood. Shes been doing some reporting on todays leadoff witnesses. Two seasoned career diplomats. Why is their testimony so crucial . Well, wolf, weve heard from democratic aides that the expectation is that these are the two witnesses who were witness to the full scope, the full story line of what President Trump was doing here. Now lets look at who they are. So we first have bill taylor. He is the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine. And he told lawmakers behind closed doors that it was his understanding that the ukrainian asks to the u. S. Were explicitly tied to the ukrainian president zelensky announcing investigations into President Trumps political rivals. So that there was some sort of connection there that he was made aware of. He was alarmed that the u. S. Security assistance to ukraine had been put on hold during that time. Now bill taylor is a decorated, very widely respected diplomat. He has served he actually had to be pulled out of retirement to take this job. Secretary of state mike pompeo encouraged him to take the job even though he was wary of taking it because ambassador yovanovitch had been pulled out of the job abruptly because she lost confidence from President Trump. Hes also a west point graduate and a vietnam war veteran. Now the other person who is going to be seated next to him in todays hearing is george kent. And george kent is a Top State Department official. And he worked with bill taylor over the past few months on ukraine policy. He will be able to corroborate a lot of what bill taylor said. And behind closed doors, he told lawmakers he was told by other u. S. Officials that President Trump specifically wanted president zelensky to go to the mics, announce investigations and to say the names in that announcement of his political rivals, biden and clinton. And its important to note, however, that george kent has worked on ukraine policy for multiple administrations. He was in the obama administration. He was at the u. S. Embassy in kiev from 2015 to 2018. And during that time, he did raise concerns about hunter biden and his business interest because he was on the board of a ukrainian business while the Vice President , joe biden, was in office. So that will be an interesting part to watch as well. But george kent, another widely respected top diplomat at the state department who has worked on policy for years with regard to ukraine and will be able to speak about how that has changed during the Trump Administration. Wolf . All very, very significant. Kylie atwood, stand by. Well get back to you as well. I want to get back to our analysts. Carrie cordero, you are a legal and National Security analyst. I assume adam schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, the democrats, they picked these two diplomats as their leadoff witnesses because they assumed they were the most effective, most credible in making the democrats point. I think they have a number of credible witnesses. These being two of that group. So i think, really, many of the witnesses were going to hear from over the course of the next two weeks all have experience and all are credible. Bill taylor, i think, is a critical witness, though. And hes someone whose testimony i was most interested to read his transcript from his by the way, you see ambassador taylor walking in right now. Top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine. An experienced american diplomat going back decades. He is. And i think what were going to see is that he is going to be incredibly well spoken, well prepared. As a diplomat, he is someone who is a communicator. He is someone who is going to know how to communicate this to the public and the fact pattern here is actually not that complicated. Hes going through security right now as hes entering the building. But go ahead. The fact pattern that hes going to be describing and that george kent are going to be describing is not actually that complicated of a fact pattern. Its whether or not a white house meeting and defense assistance were held out in exchange for the ukrainians conducting investigations into a Conspiracy Theory regarding the 2016 election and the bidens. Thats it. Its not actually an overly complicated fact pattern, and bill taylor really was witness to all of the behind the scenes conversations and interactions that were going on within the white house and the state department. You hear the president , ross garber, you are an expert on impeachment. But you hear some of the president s supporters suggest these career american diplomats are never trumpers, that theyre deep state. I dont know if the republicans are actually going to go that route in the course of their questioning today. But thats what the point that theyre trying to make in undermining their credibility. And thats going to be very interesting to see. The president has been tweeting out, even this morning, about sort of the never trumper angle. Id be surprised if the republicans on the committee and in particular the republican lawyer for the Committee Goes down sort of that never trumper angle. One, because i think it would be hard to do. Two, because its probably not their most effective point to make. I think what the republicans are going to try to do is show that, yes, these witnesses had information, as carrie pointed out, but they didnt have it from the president , and so they didnt know what was in the president s head and what was key here, i think what were going to come down to is the president s motivation. And where we wind up from the republicans in the white house is the notion that these witnesses dont get us very far on that. Well, well see what happens because its going to be dramatic. Suzanne malveaux is up on capitol hill. You are watching the witnesses come in to the capitol. Youre watching the members come in. Set the scene for us where you are. Sure, wolf. Well, i just threw a question to bill taylor moments ago. We just saw him pass us by behind and walk into the building. I asked him if he felt this was a legitimate exercise. He did not respond. Also asked him as well what does he hope to accomplish. And that really, wolf, is going to be the key challenge here is for these hear,s to unfold and adam schiff, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, acknowledging for americans themselves to see this process play out before their own eyes and make that determination. Whether or not these are credible witnesses and the stories that they are telling sound and ring true to them. A number of republicans, as you know, wolf, are not going to be here. Theyre not going to be paying attention to this. Weve heard from senator Lindsey Graham over and over. Senator john cornyn and ted cruz and others saying that its a flawed process, a partisan process, even a circus. There are other more moderate republicans, however, senators joni ernst and susan collins, rob portman saying theyre not going to experience this the way some americans experience it from gavel to gavel or the way were going to experience it. They are busy. They say they have work to do. But they will send their representatives or theyll take a look at perhaps a recorded version of it or an excerpt at some point at a later date to make their determinations. And finally, wolf, you have senators like john kennedy, republican from louisiana, again saying hell Pay Attention but he thinks its all baked. That its already cooked and done. That it is a partisan exercise. Democrats i spoke to say, well, the truth hurts. Get over it. You should watch. Wolf . We will all be watching these hearings, suzanne. Ill get back to you as well. Ambassador bill taylor arrived. Waiting for Deputy Assistant secretary of state george kent to arrive as well. The historic day here in washington, in the nations capital. Were watching lawmakers and witnesses arrive on capitol hill. Ill speak live with the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee. Thats coming up next. A lot will happen in your life. Wrinkles just wont. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repairs dermproven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. Neutrogena® at kay we know that every gift is important. But the most important gift is the one you give to the person who believes in you. All year long. Every best. Gift. Ever. Begins with kay. Im part of a community of problem solvers. We make ideas grow. From an everyday solution. To one that can take on a bigger challenge. 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Hell join ambassador bill taylor, the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine, for this televised hearing that is about thats getting ready to begin. About a half an hour or so from now. Suzanne malveaux, youre on capitol hill. Going through security up on capitol hill, its everyone has to go through security. Thats right. And youll see a couple of protesters behind us as well. I just got that question to george kent whether or not he felt it was a legitimate process. And he did not respond, but, you know, the big question is how do you get these key witnesses to testify, to testify publicly and behind closed doors. We are learning that they were both subpoenaed earlier today to get them here at this public hearing. There have been numerous methods and strategies that some of these witnesses have used. Some have defied the white house order to show up and have done so. Others have taken their cases to court. But what is very clear is that the democrats using various ways and methods to get them here, they have managed to get their key witnesses. And for the others who have not shown up, the acting chief of staff mick mulvaney, for instance, as well as the former National Security adviser john bolton, they say they no longer need their testimony. They feel very confident that theyve got an ironclad case with the witnesses that they have coming forward now, wolf. Suzanne, stand by. Well get back to you. Right now im pleased were joined by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, new York Democratic congressman eliot engel. Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us. Just explain, why were these two witnesses that are about to appear before the committee, why did they have to be subpoenaed . Well, i think they had to be subpoenaed because we want to make sure that everything is done on the up and up. These people had no wish or desire one way or another to testify except to tell the truth as many of your guests have said. Theyre career diplomats and they have an impeccable record. And they are people that you can really trust and believe. I know the republicans are making a big deal out of it, but, frankly, they would make a big deal out of anybody who came to testify. I think when you talk about mr. Taylor and mr. Kent, they are consummate professionals and well thought of by everyone. And so i think were going to listen to the testimony. I was at the private sessions and heard it. And i think that the American People can make up their minds for themselves. But these are very, very credible witnesses. And the republican attempts to malign them are really not are very unfair. Yesterday the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee adam schiff, who is going to be chairing this committee hearing, he suggested that the possibility that the president was engaged in bribery, treason, high crimes and misdemeanors. He didnt use the word treason. He did use the word bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. Do you see evidence that the president of the United States may have been engaged in bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors . Those are the crimes that the u. S. Constitution sets forward for possible impeachment. Well, i think you can certainly make the case. You can argue over semantics, but i think its easy by now to know that the president essentially used American Foreign aid money to try to bribe ukraine and doing things that really should not be done. The congress, as has been said many times, appropriates this money. The president is then not allowed to keep it, to use it for his own political purposes. And you would have thought that after the 2016 elections when trump was accused of being close to putin and close to russia, that the Trump Administration would stay away from these people. Instead, they went and did the same exact thing trying to involve a foreign nation in our elections. I dont want a foreign nation, any foreign nation involved in our american elections, but apparently the president and his people have learned nothing from it. So its quite obvious that money was withheld, foreign aid much nided by ukraine, our ally against russia, and it was held until the ukrainians decided to go ahead and help the president with his political campaigns to try to get smears on joe biden and his son. Its clear, i think, all the witnesses who were knowledgeable about it, its not really in dispute and the question is, should the president be doing that with money that was proptspropts appropriated by the congress. And i think anybody looking at it fairly will say, no, it was absolutely wrong to do. Mr. Taylor and mr. Kent are not going to sully their reputation by coming before congress and not telling the truth or coming before congress and trying to twist things. They will tell the truth. Thats in it for them. They will be republicans cant i was going to say, they will be sworn in. If they lie, thats potential perjury. One point yes. The republicans will make and well be hearing a lot about it, neither of these two diplomats or ambassador Marie Yovanovitch who will testify on friday. She was fired by the president , removed from the embassy in kiev, that none of them actually had direct conversations with the president. They didnt hear anything specific, any specific orders to do anything inappropriate directly from the president. How effective of an argument will that be . Well, i dont think its effective at all because we know that the money was withheld. The nonsense about being concerned about corruption in ukraine or whatever, this wasnt concern about corruption in ukraine. This was the president , do us a favor, though. However he said it there. He clearly wanted a favor, a political favor from ukraine in exchange for a meeting with the president of the United States in the oval office and in exchange for other things as well. Its clear the republicans can throw up all kinds of smoke screens they want, but the truth is the truth. Chairman eliot engel, thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Were waiting for the impeachment hearing to get under way up on capitol hill. About a half hour or so from now. Stay with cnn for complete live coverage. Well be right back. Skin sin 17. Too many afterparties. New neutrogena® bright boost with dullnessfighting neoglucosamine. Boosts cell turnover by 10 times for instantly brighter skin. Bright boost neutrogena®. You get more than yourFree Shipping. 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Ok, well, if it isnt real then, i guess those things over there cant actually be cows. Must be some kind of really big dogs, then. Sit bad dog. Right now were just about a half an hour away or so from the beginning of these truly historic impeachment hearings up on capitol hill. Lets get a closer look at how democrats and republicans are getting ready right before this first crucial hearing is set to begin. Manu raju is up on capitol hill for us. Our senior Congressional Correspondent. Manu, walk us through what were about to see. Well, were about to see a very significant scene unfold. Both sides recognize how significant this moment is to shape Public Perception about exactly what happened as the white house, pushing for ukraine to investigate joe biden and why that nearly 400 million in aid for ukraine had been withheld. Two witnesses, state Department Officials, will testify and make clear their concerns about exactly what was happening here. And democrats here recognize also the significance of this moment that could lead to the president s impeachment. Nancy pelosi, the House Speaker im told, just moments ago behind closed doors talked to her colleagues about impeachment calling it a very serious day for our country. Saying the house is going to recognize its responsibility as custodians of the constitution. When she spoke to reporters going into that meeting, she made clear she wasnt happy with the way this was turning out. We are defenders of our democracy. So im very prayerful, thoughtful and actually sad today that our country has to come to a place where the president doesnt understand that article 2 does not say that he can do whatever he wants. That he is not above the law. And that he will be held accountable. So how theyll be holding the president accountable in the democrats view is theyll move pretty quickly here in the House Intelligence Committee phase of this investigation. Next week, there will be eight witnesses who will come forward. People who have already come behind closed doors, including Alexander Vindman who serves on the National Security council who listened in on that july phone call between President Trump and president zelensky. Someone who raised concerns about that. The president s ask to investigate biden. Other people expected to testify who will also raise concerns about the push on ukraine policy led by Rudy Giuliani, the president s personal attorney. Fiona hill, the former top russia adviser and current ambaa amambassador to the european union, gordon sondland. Expect to hear a consistent theme starting today about the unusual effort by this administration to pursue this ukraine policy outside normal diplomatic channels and expect republicans to say these witnesses didnt have any direct knowledge of what the president actually wanted. Wolf . You mentioned what the Speaker Nancy Pelosi is saying today. Back in march, she said this. She said she wanted to make sure that if there were going to be impeachment hearings, it would be bipartisan. She told the washington post, impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless theres something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, i dont think we should go down that path because it divides the country. So that was then. This is now. What happened . Yeah, a big schift happenhif. She had not wanted to go down the impeachment route after the Mueller Report came out. Even though called member after member in the House Democratic caucus pushed for an impeachment inquiry. In the aftermath and concerns raised with the president holding this ukrainian aid in order to push for that investigation into his political rivals. After the president admitted that pushing the ukrainians to investigate joe biden, that changed her calculus and now shes moving forward. She wanted this to be bipartisan but nothing about this is bipartisan. Republicans are in lock step opposing this going forward. Theyve already voted against the resolution on the floor to set the procedures for this public hearing. And expect today in the open session for republicans to aggressively push back against what they see as, in their view, an overreach by this democratic majority as the democrats believe they are on the right side of history. Wolf . Important point. Manu, well get back to you. This is truly an historic day up on capitol hill. The first public impeachment hearings into President Trump, they will begin only minutes from now. Our special live coverage will continue right after a quick break. I wanted more from my copd medicine thats why ive got the power of 1 2 3 medicines with trelegy. The only fdaapproved 3in1 copd treatment. Trelegy. The power of 123. Trelegy 123 trelegy. With trelegy and the power of 1 2 3, im breathing better. 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Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Historic day in the nations capital. In a few minutes this historic moment will begin with the impeachment hearing in the House Intelligence Committee. John dean, lets talk about the history of what were about to see. This is only the fourth time in American History that a sitting president is going to have to face the possibility of being impeached. Thats exactly right. And i was thinking about the witnesses who are going to appear. Im sure taylor and kent are very comfortable. Theyre not rattled in any way. They want to be there. The reason they got subpoenas is they dont want to be whistleblowers. They want to be compelled to give this testimony so that a reason theyre there. Theyre quite comfortable. The people that are anxious are the republicans and the counsel who are preparing to question and who need to bring out a story and tell a story. And that is unpredictable. They dont really know how that will unfold. So while were repeating history, every time it happens, wolf, its different. And we are going to see lots of surprises today. Youre seeing Joaquin Castro from texas. Hes in the middle of the screen over there. When you take a look at these faced this possibility, david gregory, Andrew Johnson, bill clinton, now donald trump. When President Trump sees that list, hes not probably very happy to be included in that list right now. No, hes not. And, you know, he has put himself in the position of seeing this only one way. And in a purely political context in a way to seek to delegitimize him and to separate it from any abusive behavior. Theres so many interesting themes today. One of which we heard moments ago from nancy pelosi. The speaker of the house, who is making a larger argument about an assertion this president has made. The power vested in the executive is nearly absolute. That he can do almost anything he wants. That he can obstruct this investigation. This is a larger argument being made by democrats than just about this presidency and this president. And at the same time, republicans are going to be making an argument to say, look, this is so close to an election. Why not let the people decide in the election . And to insulate the president from this conduct. And i come back to something i felt for a while which is those republicans, and it seems to be a high bar in the senate who would ever vote to convict this president. Might they say, look, i dont like this behavior. I dont like how he handled himself but he is bold and brash and inexperienced as he was during the campaign. Im not sure i want to weigh in on this process. I want to let the voters decide. I think well hear a lot about that. Of course, these hearings can be unpredictable as john dean knows better than anybody else in the watergate hearings. The tapes were revealed. This is different because i think the democrats would argue you started with the smoking gun here which was the conversation. And now they are going to build out that conversation with zelensky and the president of the United States. But in the same sense, while you started with the smoking gun, you dont know what will happen during these hearings. You dont know what new evidence will be brought. You dont know how the American Public is going to react to these career diplomats and their testimony. This hasnt happened in more than two decades. And what the hearings will do for the American Public, which will be so informative, is it will lift the veil on how american Foreign Policy should be conducted and how american Foreign Policy was conducted. And i think what these two diplomats are going to do is say, look, this was an existential crisis and continues to be for ukraine against the russians. And what we were doing was holding up money to get to them. And people were dying in ukraine and continue to die fighting the russians. And this policy was holding up that money. What else we will learn, we do not know. And only in the Trump Presidency would your starting point be, yeah, i did it. A smoking gun. The history of the moment, nia, Andrew Johnson and bill clinton were both impeached. Trials in the senate. They were acquitted. They were not removed from office. Richard nixon, there was no impeachment necessary because he quit. He resigned. Knowing that he was about to be impeached and probably convicted in the senate. Thats right. Donald trump is in a unique position because he is standing for reelection. The folks you just mentioned there, not standing for reelection. So there is an extra burden that he faces. And as david alludes to, an extra talking point this provides republicans. Theres an election in a year. Why dont you let the American People decide this. If you are a republican who is up for reelection yourself, youve got to figure out, can you essentially say, listen, this was wrong what the president did, but it isnt it isnt impeachable. He shouldnt be removed from office. But then the question is, should he face any punishment at all for doing Something Like this. Draw a line in the stand and say its not acceptable for this president or any president going forward. They want their party to rally around. You seen that so far. Almost a unanimous vote. No republicans siding with the democrats. You almost expect the same thing in the senate. Listen, if are you a democrat, you want to awall off of this, put the facts on the table as quickly and digestively as you can so americans can understand it and talk about it and sort of understand it in a very simple way, talk about it around the water cooler. I think today you also want to have sound bytes. Right . I dont think there necessarily has to be a slam dunk moment. But they definitely need to have some sound byte moments that people can remember. Ross garber, you teach impeachment law to tulane law school. I do. One of the challenges we heard from manu about the speakers desire to have this be a by part zap process. That makes good sense politically. It makes good sense historically. It makes good sense for governing. And i think thats going to be the speakers big challenge here. When the nixon process got to this point, the vote was nearly unanimous. Only four representatives voted to not start impeachment proceedings. In the clinton process, 31 members of the president s own party, his own party, voted to gen the impeachment process, here the dynamics the democrats are to start off in a much tougher spot, because not a single republican voted to even start the impeachment process and two democrats even defected and said were not even going to start the impreechlt process. So one of the things i will be looking for here is to see whether these proceedingsyhange because otherwise there is that very strong risk that is going to be viewed as a partisan processed a and leslie jit mat. This is such an important point. Because there has to become a point that these proceedings rise above partisanship. And that the members of congress start to take their own constitutional duty seriously. Whats different about this particular set of facts in this impeachment proceeding is that this involves National Security. It involves the Foreign Affairs of the United States and the issues that the members here are going to need to consider are going to have historical, longterm consequences regarding what is acceptable in american National Security and Foreign Policy and whether its okay for a president to abuse his office in order to get political favors from a foreign government. Its basically whether or not they are going to green light foreign interference in democratic processes in elections and members are going are have to at some point think about the fact that they dont work for the president. They are not part of the executive branch. They have an independent constitutional duty. I think whats so striking about what you are saying is how unlikely that will be that that will be the result. Our politics are so polarized. By the way, adam schiff you see him in the middle of the screen d. Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has arrived. He will be gaveling this to order and make a statement and the ranking republican devon nunes will do the same. And that theres the potential for members to see it as their view. I think its unlikely that they do that. The fact that you have lawyers present i think is so helpful to draw these witnesses out and get the facts before the American People and, indeed, the American People could have the kind of reaction you are talking about, kerry, separate from how members of congress will actually do their job. We heard that during nixon. Nixon had the support of republicans until he didnt. Until the floor collapsed. And clinton, there was that same issue. So, you know, here well have to see how it plays out. Manu raju is in the hearing room. I understand you are joining us on the phone right now. Give us a little flavor of whats unfolding. You see the chairman adam schiff sitting down. Thats right. Theyre getting ready for this hearing to take place any minute. We are waiting for the camera man and photographers are all lining up around, waiting for this hearing to start. Waiting for these witnesses to enter and also in the hear and the audience are members of the varies committees who are not a part of the House Intelligence Committee. A number of members who on both sides of the aisle who did take part in the closed door depositions. Those were done by three different committees. Now this hearing is being done by the House Intelligence Committee. So we are seeing a number of members who served on these various committees come to light to witness these proceedings. So right now, the, right now, we are waiting for the witnesses to come in. We are waiting for, now we are expecting the crowds to come in, outside the hallways to crowds and crowds of people are waitin history unfold before their eyes, the beginning of these public impeachment proceedings that will take pleas in just that matter of moments. We do expect the witness dos walk in, too, in a matter of seconds as democrats and republicans prepare for the lean of questioning. Staff councils are getting ready to ask questions as well. They are getting seated now, wolf, in this moment about to unfold for history unfolding as the democrats prepare to move forward on this impeachment proceeding. There we see adam schiff, chairman, under enormous pressure right now, under enormous pressure for a while. He will be gathering the session into order, bringing these two witness and having them sworn in, they have to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We are talking about ambassador bill taylor, top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine. Deputy assistant secretary george kent who oversees u. S. Policy from ukraine from the state department perspective. Both are career diplomats. Both have served in the u. S. Foreign service for decades right now. And their credibility will be very, very significant, you know, kerry co cordara some wily these are never trumpers, these are kids a part of the deep state. I dont know if any republican member or lawyers will make an allegation like that. But weve heard it repeatedly. We have from the president , himself, on his twitter feed. As far as i know, there is absolutelier is radiy zero evidr George Taylor or gorge kevin were in the never Election Campaign season. There is a way we can measure that. There were two significant letters that were written at the time. One by over 100, signed by over 100 former republican affiliated National Security officials. One of 50 or so very senior republican National Security officials. They did not find either of those letters. They did not, as far as write any opeds. There is nothing to base that allegation on other than simply throwing out an allegation and hoping that some people believe it. And let me point out something about adam schiff. He was not one who was early on the impeachment band wagon. Adam schiff. Nancy and he and nancy pelosi were in the same camp, which is after the Mueller Report, they felt, okay, were going to continue to pursue these strands, but he was not pushing for impeachment. Around i spoke with him the other day and kind of what he told him drove him over the edge was ukraine, was the phone conversation, was the fact that the president said, do me a favor, though, and investigate my political opponent and he felt at a certain point you have to Pay Attention to that, not just as a democrat, but for future generation of president s who needed to know that, yes, there is there are some things you cannot do as pelosi, of course, said today. And you see republicans there, they have some signs up there, obviously, taking advantage of the fact that this is a televised hearing. I think one says if we dont impeach him, hell be reelected, this of course is a statement from al green. Democratic congressman. Essentially trying to say this is what democrats have wanted to do for the last three years, ever since donald trump was elected that they have been on the march to try to impeach him. And it is true that theres some democrats who did want to impeach him way back when. But as gloria points out, adam schiff was not among them. A lot of the incoming freshmen class certainly were not among them, anyway, you see republicans wanting to make that point. Be by the way, thats jim jordan without the suit coat. He usually comes with a shirt and tie. Hes detailed to this committee as well, the Intelligence Committees, they want him to be a part of this process for the republicans. I think its so important to look for in the early going of this hearing which is ask yourself this question, why did these witnesses first on the docket, what motive do they have to lie or somehow target the president . They are really compelling witnesses in that way and if there is evidence that they were somehow never trumpers, there is an obligation on the part of republicans to confront them in an open hearing with that evidence. The public has a right to know that. Lets see if they do it. I think thats an early challenge for republicans. Lets see if they confront them with that evidence. And you know, this isnt a matter of shifting american Foreign Policy that way. These were never trumpers who wanted to move american Foreign Policy in a different direction. These are state Department Officials who wanted to comply with american Foreign Policy visavis you krein and against the russians and it was Rudy Guiliani who describes the phone call in a wall street journal oped today as innocent, the president s phone call. It was Rudy Guiliani, et cetera, who wanted to shift american Foreign Policy in a different way and so the American Public has to watch us and say, well, what is here motive . What were they trying to do here, these diplomats . Enact Foreign Policy, thats what they were trying to do. With a very willing witness. They want to be there. They want to explain what went wrong, what went so very, very astray from normal procedure because this is just really not the way its supposed to be. They want to make