The committee will come to order.

Good morning, everyone.

This is the first in a series of public hearings.

The committee will be holding as part of the House's impeachment inquiry.

Wednesday was the first day in the public phase of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Two important witnesses testified in front of lawmakers.

And with that, I now recognize the witnesses.

William Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the State Department.

These televised hearings included several contentious moments between lawmakers,

bickering over time, process, and questions.

But the hearings also revealed meaningful insight into the facts provided by key witnesses, including a new revelation previously unknown to the public about a telephone conversation between Trump and New York.

And the US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sommland.

So what's that all about?

And what else did we learn from the very first in an upcoming parade of public impeachment hearings?

We're going to guide you through what happened today, and we'll be your guide through this whole ongoing process. So stay tuned.

This is Can He Do That, a podcast that explores the powers and limitations of the American presidency.

And what happens when branches of government collide? I'm Allison Michaels.

After a long day of watching and reporting on news out of the hearing, I sat down with my colleague Elise V. Beck, a political enterprise and investigations reporter here at the post.

I want to go to walk me through a few of the major moments from the hearings.

But first, I asked her to explain a little bit of what we saw in terms of process.

Since this hearing worked a bit differently than House Committee hearings usually work.

After opening statements, each party had 45 minutes for uninterrupted questions.

...