Takeaways From The First Public Hearing In Impeachment Inquiry

The NPR Politics Podcast

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4.4 • 25.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2019

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

Mostly, the five hour hearing emphasized aspects of the narrative about the Ukraine affair that already have emerged from closed-door depositions. In this episode: Political correspondent Asma Khalid, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, and Justice Department correspondent Ryan Lucas.

Related coverage:
Impeachment Witness: Trump Asked Diplomat About Ukraine Investigations

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Asma Kala that cover the 2020 presidential
0:07.9	campaign. I'm Tamer Keith, I cover the White House. And I'm Ryan Lucas, I cover the Justice
0:11.5	Department. And it is 3.34 pm on Wednesday, November 13th. And at this moment, just down the
0:19.2	street from the studio, the first public impeachment hearing is underway. So, Tam and Ryan, let's
0:26.4	just start with first impressions, because this is really the public's first chance to hear from
0:29.9	some of these witnesses. That's right. This is the first time that we have seen both William
0:33.3	Taylor, the top US diplomat in Kiev, as well as George Cantus, the senior state department official.
0:39.3	This is the first time that we have seen them publicly and heard their voices, which is kind of a
0:43.4	big moment for the public, I think. But what this hearing also did, kind of a big picture take away
0:48.6	from me, is that this really made clear how partisan and exercise this is going to be. Republicans came
0:55.0	out from the top, Devon Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, which was
0:59.5	holding this hearing, really went after Democrats said that you can't believe anything that the
1:04.0	Democrats say. The whole Russia investigation was a hoax pushed by Democrats, he said. And this
1:09.9	is just a continuation, kind of a sad continuation, he said of that investigation. And Democrats
1:15.4	took kind of a more laid back approach to this and tried to appear above such partisan attacks.
1:21.4	And present this as a sober somber affair, which may be a strategy of their own.
1:26.3	I think it probably was a strategy of their own. And in terms of the witnesses, you have these two
1:31.6	lifelong diplomats, lifelong public servants who come out and deliver very long opening statements,
1:38.6	especially William Taylor's opening statement was 20 pages. It was a very long opening statement.
1:44.9	And the point that they both made more than once was we are not here for your partisan games.
1:53.7	We are here because we are public servants, we are here because we believe in US policy,
2:00.0	and we aren't here for one side or the other. Or to advocate for any particular outcome of these
	...

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