Trump’s Public Impeachment Hearings will begin on Wednesday

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A Representative Adam Schiff said the House Intelligence Committee will start public impeachment hearings next week. It would mark a new phase in the investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to force Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political rival. The first hearings will take place next Wednesday, with former U.S ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent testifying. The expected hearings will be followed by testimony from former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and it will take place on 15 November. Schiff announced the public hearing during a press conference. He said that the next week’s testimony will offer an opportunity for American people to evaluate the witnesses themselves.

Schiff said the most important facts in the case are not contested. He continued, arguing that new transcripts his committee will release will show that Republicans have been allowed to participate in the hearings that have been conducted, despite their attempts to argue otherwise. Schiff said, “This will be the first of the open hearings, and I think you will see the most important facts are not contested”. He also said that the testimony will give Americans an inside view of the president’s misconduct. It is noteworthy that Taylor, Kent, and Yovanovitch have all testified privately to members of the House.

 They have described as something of a conspiracy to force Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to publically announce that his government was opening an investigation into Joe Biden. Yovanovitch has claimed that she was sidelined and later fired after members of Trump’s inner circle including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani determined that she was standing in the way of their efforts to get that investigation started. Taylor has testified that Trump sought to use American military aid to Ukraine and a meeting between Zelensky and Trump. Trump has claimed that there was no quid pro quo and has sought to portray the investigation into his behavior as a partisan investigation designed at ruining his presidency.