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Precedent it sets. they're thinking about, what does this mean for me politically. so far he has hung on to the base of the republican party and with very few defections. that may change, but right now i think that's a correct assessment by the white house, that they've got the senate tied up in a way that will protect the president from actually being removed from office. >> i think the two variables, ned, would, in my guess, drawing on my past sort of in republican politics, would be public opinion, should you see attacks on colonel vindman inching this from 51% support to 53, 54, 55. and th...

Mr. chairman -- [ applause ] >> what does it say to you there was this kind of applause after a hearing? are you worried republicans are on the wrong side of history here? >> well, first of all, i'm not looking at this as a republican or i don't think of it in those terms. this is serious matter. and you have to examine this kind of presidential behavior and the precedent that it sets. i think people were probably cheering for the woman, the ambassador who was there who did a really good job. and, you know, i watched a little of the -- i think they were cheering for her and saying, hey, you di...

Are on the wrong side of this? >> well, first of all, i'm not looking at this as a republican or a -- i don't think of it in those terms. this is a serious matter. you have to examine this kind of presidential behavior and the precedent that it sets. i think people were probably cheering for the woman, the ambassador who was thereon. she did a really good job. i watched a little -- i think they were cheering for her, saying, hey, you did a great job today. we can see you love the country and love the ukrainians. that's what the cheering was about, if i had to guess. come back to the east coa...

Ukraine is not the only country that confronts corruption. if the people in power in a country where corruption is rampant are being asked by a foreign leader, who has a lot of leverage over them to conduct an investigation, could that be dangerous, because they could trump up charges against someone if they wanted? >> they could. >> and i also want to ask you, i spoke to ambassador kent, he made a comment yesterday about selective prosecutions, and what it means going forward. what kind of precedent it sets. and you have spoken about a dangerous precedent for the state department and diplomat...

There is corruption in ukraine. ukraine isn't the only country that confronts corruption. if the people in power in a country where corruption is rampant are being asked by a foreign leader who's got a lot of leverage over them to conduct an investigation, could that be dangerous because they could trump up charges against someone if they wanted? >> they could. >> and i also want to ask you, i spoke to ambassador kent. he made a comment yesterday about selective prosecutions and what it means going forward. what kind of precedent it sets. and you spoke about a dangerous presence dent for the s...