Let the Hearings Begin

Today's brief summary:

Ambassador Bill Taylor was detailed, meticulous, stolid and impressive in his opening statement.

George Kent was low-key, but did a good job in his opening statement.

The Democrat's lawyer did strong, organized questioning.

I don’t have a clue what the Republican lawyer was asking.  It turns out that I'm not a alone, since the general reaction has been the same.

The member-questions on either side weren't especially strong.

Democratic questions were at least okay, focusing on the Ukraine call and also on what Ambassador Taylor referred to diplomatically as the “irregular channels of diplomacy.”

Republican questions likely accomplished what they wanted for their base – make clear that the witnesses had no first-hand knowledge of the call, and distract from Trump's actions by obfuscating with issues unrelated to the call and irregular challenges.

There was a  tweet I saw that probably best-described what Republican questioning was like throughout the day.  The tweet went --

GOP: Do you know where my car keys are?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR:  No, sir, I don’t know that.

GOP: Then how did I get here??!!!

By the way -- JIM JORDAN TALKS VERY LOUD AND ONLY ASKS A FEW QUESTIONS BUT I THINK HE BELIEVES THAT GIVING LOUD SPEECHES MAKES HIM APPEAR TO BE SAYING THINGS IMPORTANT.

The biggest revelation of the day was about Ambassador Taylor only learning last week that one of his aides had overheard Trump on a call with Ambassador Gordon Sonderland.  Republicans tried to make it into a third-party conversation that could be dismissed, but the story has been huge, and the aide is now going to be called as a witness.  And clearly Sonderland will be asked about it.  Trump's response was that he has no recollection of the call.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul made two separate important points about this overheard phone call that everyone else overlooked.  The first was that Trump has previously insisted that he barely knows Sonderland -- yet from this new story Sondland clearly was able to call Trump in the middle of the night.  And McFaul's second point is how utterly irresponsible and risky it is for Sondland to simply call the president of the United States on an unsecure phone from a restaurant in the Ukraine!  

(We'll add a bonus point:  How many people here think that this was the ONLY time that Trump made a call on his unsecured phone?  And discussed something inappropriate or even illegal?  And foreign agencies have been listening in and recording it?  Hands?  Anyone???)

[UPDATE: A second embassy official has been reported today by the Associated Press to have also overheard the phone call between Trump and Ambassador Sondland.  A call that Trump said he has no recollection of.  The question now is how Mr. Sondland will address this in his impeachment hearing appearance. While Sondland can (unbelievably) hide behind not remembering the details of the call -- it will be near-impossible for him to deny the call, which was a major security breach. The sort of thing that "Puts us all at risk."]

While I don't especially like George Conway, husband of Kellylanne, though a major critic of Trump -- but part of the very far-right Federalist Society -- and I wasn't crazy about him being on the MSNBC panel to analyze the hearing, I have to admit that I loved that MSNBC blatantly was trolling Trump by having him there.  My favorite comment from him was referring to the Ukraine call and plans that lead up to it  “one of the ultimate impeachable acts.”  And then added it was SO clear-cut that “It’s like a question on a law school test.

Amid all the analysis about this information-packed day, one important fact remains critical:  this was only the first day.  Much more to come.