Sought to condition coerce extort or bribe an ally into conducting investigations to aid Israel lection campaign and did so by withholding official acts a White House meeting or hundreds of millions of dollars of needed military aid. Must we simply get over it so that's Democrat Adam Schiff Meanwhile the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee Devin newness had a very different take and we are supposed to take these people at face value when they trot out a new batch of allegations but anyone from Ilya or the Democrats earth war against President Trump would not be surprised to see all the typical signs that this is a carefully orchestrated media smear campaign so the stage is now set for today on the testimony we are about to bring you from Marie your Vonage we will be bringing you this hearing live here in the studio with me is senior editor and correspondent Tamara come on tomorrow Hi there to Monaco Hey there Mary Louise and over on Capitol Hill congressional correspondent Susan Davis Hey Sue morning so I'm going to start with you what are we looking at this morning is this going to be the same format as Wednesday same people asking questions same format same committee we will see that the chairman and the ranking member the top Republican will be given more time than we usually see in these hearings they change the rules ahead of the public impeachment hearings to give them up to 45 minutes to question witnesses the intent of that decision making was to allow the majority and the minority more time to sort of make the case for why this person should be testifying we've also seen that we will see their chairman a ranking member turn over a large part of their question making or as we expect them to to top counsels for both the House Intelligence Committee and the House Oversight Committee right Remind us who those are who we're going to hear from there so on the Democratic side it's a to turning named lessons Goldman he was a former u.s. Attorney he now works for the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee he is a former prosecutor obviously and he has led many of the closed door depositions been Remember most of the members and the staff that will keep as these questions today have already heard all of this testimony this all happened behind closed doors already this is again where they're going to try to use this question and answer session to draw out the most compelling. Parts of that closed door testimony 2 on the Democratic side make the case that the president is worthy of impeachment and on the Republican side to say that what they have told them behind closed doors is not in fact enough to Rick to you know sort of condition a vote to remove a president from office Dominica let me bring you in here in terms of what exact information they are hoping those lines of questioning will elicit what does it Maria avantage can tell lawmakers that may move this process forward Well look I mean a lot of what she said has already been disclosed based on her hours long deposition but one of the things that's important here is how she was treated and the president having talked about her behind her back to the Ukrainian president on this July 25th call this now infamous call where he said she was bad news and that bad things were going to be happening to her she's going to be going through some bad things and the question here is yes as Republicans are going to say our president has the right to remove any ambassador he wants any ambassador serves at the pleasure of the president but why was he putting her in a vice in particular why was he talking badly behind her back when all we've heard from other witnesses so far was that she was an upstanding ambassador that she was an anti corruption warrior and where did this originate from why was she under attack from this quote unquote irregular channel as Ambassador Taylor told us that he felt that she was operating against right so she will be asked about her understanding of how she was forced to leave Ukraine which she very much didn't want to do as you know it we know that because we have already seen her entire transcript of her entire testimony hours of it from when she testified behind closed doors does that in a way take a little bit of the drama out of this and that we know what she's going to say you know I always talk about the fact that I don't necessarily think these hearings are you know hugely important because of the substance they are but we know some of the substance what's most important. How the information is delivered how the attacks are parried back especially from Republican supporters of the president how does your vote of it hold up before the glare of the cameras a lot of the more sort of high profile folks who are closer to this knowing exactly firsthand what happened are being blocked by the White House from testifying think of somebody like John Bolton 'd the former national security adviser to the president he's not testifying even though we know that he has said some pretty explosive things about this and how he was against what was happening in this quote unquote irregular you think of President Trump himself which is something Democrats were cedar Al-Jazeera today are you happy to hear you know well it's yesterday made that joke saying that they'd be happy to hear from the person who started it all the president is always welcome to take a seat to Davis We have also heard particularly from Republicans this point made over and over in the 1st hearing on Wednesday that Dominik are not add to that witnesses those witnesses didn't have firsthand knowledge of some of the events in question which when you look at Maria vine of it she was out of Ukraine she was yanked from there by this spring so she was gone months before say the July 25th now infamous phone call took place is that something you expect Republicans to be trying to draw out as they question her today of course and it is a key detail she was not at the State Department in any capacity when the July 25th phone call happened when the military aid to Ukraine was was held are released in that core part of the timeline she's not a key player here but she is a key player in the story of what Democrats believe shows motive from the president and his top but very very Giuliani right and Susan I'm going to jump in here just because we can see Maria of on events has interested in hearing room she's been seated and we're going to go there now here's Adamson again I would say it's a public hearings the committee will be holding this part of the House impeachment inquiry without objection the chair is authorized to the Currie says to the committee that any time there is a quorum present we will proceed today in the same fashion as our 1st hearing I'll make an opening statement and then ranking member Nunez will have the opportunity to make a statement. And we will turn to our witness for an opening statement and then to questions for audience members we welcome you and respect your interest in being here in turn we ask for your respect as we proceed with today's hearing it is the intention of the committee to proceed without disruptions as chairman I will take all necessary and appropriate steps to maintain order to ensure that the committee is run in accordance with house rules and House Resolution 660 with that I now recognize myself to give an opening statement in the impeachment inquiry into Donald j. Trump the 45th president of the United States in April 29th teen United States ambassador to Ukraine Marie Ivanovitch was in Kiev when she was called by a senior State Department official and told to get on the next plane back to Washington upon her return to d.c. She was informed by her superiors that although she had done nothing wrong she could no longer serve as a bastard to Ukraine because she did not have the confidence of the president. It was a stunning turn of events for this highly regarded career diplomat who had done such a remarkable job fighting corruption in Ukraine that a short time earlier she had been asked by the State Department to extend her tour a master given of its has been in the Foreign Service for 33 years and served much of that time in the former Soviet Union Her parents had fled Stalin and later Hitler before settling in the United States she is an exemplary officer who was widely praised and respected by her colleagues she is known as an anti corruption champion whose tour in Kiev was viewed as a very successful. Ambassador Michael McKinley who had served with her in the Foreign Service for several decades stated that from the earliest days of her career in the Foreign Service She was excellent serious committed I certainly remember her being one of those people who seemed to be destined for greater things . Her successor as acting chief of mission in Ukraine a baster Bill Taylor described her as very frank she was very direct she made points very clearly and she was indeed tough on corruption and she named names and that sometimes is controversial out but out there but she's a strong person and made those charges in her time in Kiev and bassy of on a vigil was tough on corruption too tough on corruption for some and a principled stance made her enemies as George can't told this committee on Wednesday you can't promote principled anticorruption action without pissing off corrupt people and bassy of on of each did not just piss off corrupt Ukrainians like the corrupt former prosecutor general and Co but also certain Americans like Rudy Giuliani Donald Trump's personal attorney and 2 individuals now indicted who worked with him eager for him and live part us Sankoh Giuliani Froome and part us and others who had come to include the president's own son Don Jr promoted a smear campaign against her based on false allegations at the State Department there was an effort to push back to obtain a statement of support from Secretary Pompei o but those efforts failed when it became clear that President Trump wanted her gone. Some of argued that a president has the ability to nominate or remove any ambassador he wants that they serve at the pleasure of the president and that is true the question before us is not whether Donald Trump could recall an American ambassador with a stellar reputation for fighting corruption in Ukraine but why would he want to Why did Rudy Giuliani want her gone and why did Donald Trump and why would Donald Trump instruct the new team he put in place the 3 amigos Gordon Rick Perry and Kurt Volker to work with the same man Rudy Giuliani who played such a central role in the smear campaign against her Rudy Giuliani has made no secret of his desire to get Ukraine to open investigations into the Bidens as well as the conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election as he said in one interview and May 2019 were not meddling in an election or maybe meddling in an investigation which we have a right to do more recently he told C.N.N.'s Chris Cuomo Of course I did when asked if he had pressed Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and he's never been shy about who is doing this work for his client the president one powerful ally Giuliani had in Ukraine to promote these political investigations was sent Co the corrupt former prosecutor general and one powerful adversary who sent go had was a certain United States ambassador named Marie you have on of it it is no coincidence that in the now infamous July 25th call was Alinsky Donald Trump brings up a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor and praises him against all 'd evidence Trump claims that this former prosecutor general was very good and he was shut down and that's really unfair. But the woman known for fighting corruption his own former ambassador the woman ruthlessly smeared and driven from her post the president does nothing but disparage or worse threaten. Well she's going to go through some things the president declares that tells you a lot about the president's priorities and intentions getting rid of a bastard of on of it helped to set the stage for a regular channel that could pursue the 2 investigations that mattered so much to the president the 2016 conspiracy theory and most important an investigation into the 2020 political opponent he apparently feared most Joe Biden and the president scheme might have worked but for the fact that the man who would succeed ambassador have on of it and we heard from on Wednesday acting Ambassador Taylor would eventually discover the effort to press Ukraine into conducting these investigations and would push back but for the fact also that someone blew the whistle and mastery of on of each was serving our nation's interest in fighting corruption in Ukraine but she was considered an obstacle to the further in so the president's personal and political agenda for that she was smeared and cast aside the powers of the presidency are immense but they are not absolute and they cannot be used for corrupt purpose the American people expect their president to use the authority they grant him in the service of the nation not to destroy others to advance his personal or political interests I now recognize ranking member Nunez for his remarks. I think the gentleman. It's unfortunate that today and for a. Republican of Kenya or new gene in the Democrats day long t.v. Spectacles instead of solving the problems we were all sent to Washington to address. We now have a major trade agreement with Canada and Mexico ready for approval a deal that would create jobs and boost our economy meanwhile we have not yet approved funding for the government which expires next week along with funding for our men and women in uniform instead the Democrats have convened us once again to advance their operation to topple a duly elected president I'll note that 55 Democrats on this committee had already voted to impeach this president before the trunk Zelinsky phone call occurred. In fact Democrats have been valid to oust President Trump since the day he was elected so Americans can rightly suspect that his phone call with President Zelinsky was used as an excuse for the Democrats to fulfill their Watergate fantasies. But I'm glad that on Wednesday after the Democrats stage 6 weeks of secret depositions in the basement of the Capitol like some kind of strange cult the American people finally got to see this farce for themselves they saw us sit through hours of hearsay testimony about conversations that 2 diplomats who had never spoken to the president heard 2nd hand 3rd hand and 4th hand from other people in other words rumors the problem of trying to overthrow a president based on this type of evidence is obvious but that's what their whole case relies on. Beginning with 2nd hand and 3rd hand information cited by the whistleblower That's why on Wednesday the Democrats were forced to make the absurd argument that hearsay can be much better evidence than direct evidence. And just when you thought the spectacle couldn't get more bizarre committee Republicans received a memo from the Democrats threatening ethics referrals if we out there was a blower as the Democrats are well aware no Republicans here know the whistleblowers identity because the whistleblower only met with Democrats not with Republicans chairmanship claim not to know who it is that he also vowed to block us from asking questions that could reveal his or her identity Republicans on this committee are left wondering how it's even possible for the chairman to block questions about a person whose identity he claims not to know the American people may be seeing these absurdities for the 1st time but Republicans on this Dyess are used to them until they secretly met with the whistleblower Democrat showed little interest for the last 3 years and any topic aside from the ridiculous conspiracy theories that President Trump is a Russian agent when you find yourself on the phone like the Democrats did with the Russian praying stores offering you nude pictures of Trump and afterward you order your staff to follow up and get the photos as the Democrats also dead then it might be time to ask yourself if you've gone out too far on a limb even as they were accusing Republicans of clued in with the Russians the Democrats themselves were colluding with the Russians by funding the steel dossier which was based on Russian and Ukrainian sources Meanwhile they turn a blind eye to Ukrainians meddling in our elections because the Democrats were cooperating with that operation. This was the subject of a July 20th 2017 letter sent by Senator Grassley to then deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein a letter raised concerns about the activities of Alexander Chalupa a contractor for the Democratic National Committee who worked with Ukrainian embassy officials to spread dirt on the truck campaign as Senator Grassley wrote. Actual quote Chalupa is actions appear to show that she was simultaneously working on behalf of a foreign government Ukraine and on behalf of the d.n.c. And the Clinton campaign in an effort to influence not only the us voting population but u.s. Government officials unquote after touting the still dossier and defending the F.B.I.'s Russia investigation which are now being investigated by Inspector General Horowitz and Attorney General bar Democrats on this committee ignore Ukrainian election meddling even though Chalupa publicly admitted to the Democrats scheme Likewise they are blind to the blaring signs of corruption surrounding 100 Biden's well paid position on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian company while his father served as vice president and point man for Ukraine issues in the Obama administration but the Democrats media hacks only cared about that issue briefly when they were trying to stop Joe Biden from running against Hillary Clinton in 2015. As I previously stated these hearings should not be occurring at all until we get the answers to 3 crucial questions the Democrats refuse to ask 1st what is the full extent of the Democrats' prior coordination with the whistleblower and who else to the whistleblower coordinate this effort with 2nd what is the full extent of Ukraine's election meddling against the trunk campaign. And 3rd why did Bree smile hire Hunter Biden what did he do for them and did his position affect any government actions under the Obama administration all note that House Democrats about that they would not put the American people through a wrenching and peach bit process without bipartisan support and they have not add that to their ever growing list of broken promises and destructive deceptions and closing. A chair the president noted States released his transcript right before the hearing began. I think it's important that I read this into the record so that there's no confusion over this 1st phone call that occurred on April 21st with President elect Zelinsky and I'd like to read it the President I'd like to congratulate you on a job well done and congratulations on a fantastic election Selenski good to hear from you thank you so very much it's nice to hear from you and I appreciate the congratulations to the president that was an incredible election Zelinsky again thank you so very much as you can see we tried very hard to do our best we had you as a great example the president I think you will do a great job I have many friends in Ukraine who know you and like you I have many friends from Ukraine and frankly expected you to win and it's really an amazing thing that you've done. I guess in a way I did something similar or making tremendous progress in the u.s. We have them the most tremendous economy ever I just wanted to congratulate you I have no doubt you will be event President Selenski 1st of all thank you so very much again for the congratulations when Ukraine are an independent country an independent Ukraine we're going to do everything for the people. You are as I said a great example we