November 8, 2019 | by Chris Cillizza and Devan Cole
This is the end of the beginning on impeachment
If the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump were a play, the first act would now close.
That's because, starting Wednesday, we will begin to hear witnesses in the inquiry testifying publicly. Which will be a MAJOR change from the release of transcripts from closed-door interviews that have dominated the conversation around impeachment to date.
Those transcripts have provided a more robust picture of the goings-on in the White House both before and after that fateful July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And that picture makes a few things very clear:
1. Several senior officials were convinced the call was inappropriate from the get-go. 2. Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were knee-deep in the attempts to convince (coerce?) Ukraine to open investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden as well as the whereabouts of the hacked Democratic National Committee server. 3. US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland openly floated a quid pro quo -- security aid for opening investigations -- in a conversation with a top Ukrainian official.
The truth is, however, wrapping your arms around these lengthy -- and, at times, hard to follow -- transcripts is no easy task. And that means that for most people outside the world of politics, the real impeachment inquiry will begin next week.
We are a visual people. Images have a power to move us that words on a page often do not. (He says as someone who writes for a living.) The public hearings, then, are the truly high-stakes fight here. There will be moments from each day of testimony, moments that get played (and replayed) on cable TV. Moments that will come to define not just a witness but the proceedings more broadly.
Get ready.
The Point: Act 1 is over. And Act 2 is where all the major drama happens.
"I was invited. I am thinking about it. It's right in the middle of our campaign season, but I am thinking -- I would certainly think about it," Trump said Friday.
Should he accept the invitation, the May trip would be Trump's first visit to the country as President, and the first trip to Russia by a US president since Barack Obama went there in 2013.
George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also traveled to Russia to attend the celebration during their presidencies.
CHRIS' GOOD READS
Do the whistleblower laws make it illegal to out one? CNN's Tara Subramaniam breaks it down
As Congress inches closer to a possible impeachment trial, Trump is fundraising for his potential Republican jurors
Coming over the next week: More candidates file for the New Hampshire primary, Bernie Sanders rallies with AOC and Pete Buttigieg rolls his campaign bus to New Hampshire.
Friday, November 8
Bernie Sanders: Hosts rally with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Iowa
Saturday, November 9
Tulsi Gabbard: Holds a town hall in Lebanon, New Hampshire
The number of pages of transcripts released by the House this week from closed-door depositions conducted as part of the impeachment inquiry, according to a CNN tally. That makes for an average of about 334 pages for each of the eight transcripts released from Monday through Friday. Fifteen witnesses have so far testified before Congress as part of the impeachment inquiry.
No comments:
Post a Comment