The House held its first public hearings
in the impeachment inquiry today.
And there was a major new bombshell
about President Trump's involvement
in the Ukraine scandal.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Today was a historic day.
This was only the fourth time in American history
that Congress has launched public impeachment proceedings
against a sitting president.
And that is not a club you want to be in.
There are the two presidents who actually got impeached
and the third, Richard Nixon,
who was so desperate to avoid it, he quit first.
Remember the famous shot of Nixon getting on the helicopter?
If that had been Trump, the Secret Service would have to
tie him to the helicopter by his leg and airlift him out.
[ As Donald Trump ] Please drop me off at a Wendy's.
[ Normal voice ] Democrats have already collected reams of damning evidence
and witness testimony in private depositions.
That evidence has been so compelling,
even some conservatives have called for Trump's impeachment,
like George Conway,
the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
Conway made a rare TV appearance on MSNBC today,
where he was asked specifically
how he talks about his criticisms of Trump
with fellow Republicans.
-This is about the country,
people doing the right thing by the country
and not by their party.
And this is about telling the truth
about what really happened
and not about party loyalty.
-Are you disappointed that Republicans
don't seem to see it that way?
-I'm horrified. I'm appalled.
-If you're alone with a Republican --
You spent your career in Republican legal causes.
What is the case to the Republicans you've known
your whole professional life?
-Well, the case is, take that Republican hat off
and look at it neutrally.
-It is so weird to watch them dance around the fact
that he's married to Kellyanne Conway.
"So what do you say if you're alone with a Republican,
say in a kitchen or in a car on the way to dinner?
What do you tell the Republicans you've known your whole life,
say Republicans you've exchanged vows with?
Just one more.
You're married to Kellyanne Conway!
What is going on here?!"
Now, once again...
[ Applause ]
Once the hearing began, Democratic chairman Adam Schiff
laid out all the evidence Democrats have collected,
all of which is also publicly known.
And there was one crucial point he made
that is worth remembering.
-The questions presented by this impeachment inquiry
are whether President Trump
sought to exploit that ally's vulnerability
and invite Ukraine's interference in our elections.
The facts in the present inquiry are not seriously contested.
-That's true.
Republicans haven't actually contested any of the facts.
In fact, they've basically admitted to all of it.
We have the transcript
where Trump mentioned the Bidens by name
and told the Ukrainian president,
"I would like you to do us a favor."
Trump and his chief of staff have confessed on TV.
And Rudy Giuliani has done multiple interviews
where he actually showed off his communications
with Trump officials on his phone and his iPad
on national television.
You know you're a bad criminal
when you keep the evidence against you on multiple devices.
I'd love to see the storage chart on his phone.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ] Rudy --
Rudy's like a bank robber who says, "Look at my Fitbit.
I took 1,000 steps from my house to the bank
and then to my getaway car."
Republicans have not challenged
any of the central facts of the case,
so instead they just resort to lies.
Take Republican congressman Devin Nunes,
who decided to double down
on a bunch of ridiculous conspiracy theories.
For example, during his opening statement,
he made a truly insane claim
that had nothing to do with the actual Ukraine scandal.
-We're asked to simply forget
about Democrats on this committee
falsely claiming they had more than circumstantial evidence
of collusion between President Trump and Russians.
We should also forget about them trying to obtain
nude pictures of Trump from Russian pranksters.
-Hey, man, I guarantee you,
no one wants nude pics of Donald Trump.
I'm not crazy about clothed pics of Donald Trump.
Also, I have to believe
that if there were nude pics of Donald Trump,
the first person to show them to us would be Donald Trump.
He'd probably hold a press conference
with a giant poster board.
[ As Donald Trump ] As you can see here,
this was a selfie I took on the toilet.
[ Normal voice ] Nunes also picked up on a theme
right-wing pundits have been pushing for weeks
that the impeachment hearings are just a show
concocted by Democrats for TV
as a sequel to the Russia investigation.
-What we will witness today
is a televised theatrical performance
staged by the Democrats.
It seems you agreed witting or unwittingly
to participate in a drama.
But the main performance, the Russia hoax, has ended,
and you've been cast in the low-rent Ukrainian sequel.
-Impeachment isn't the low-rent Ukrainian sequel.
These guys are the low-rent Ukrainian sequel.
Remember them? Lev and Igor?
These are the real names of Rudy's henchmen
who were arrested in part for their role in the scandal.
At least the Russia investigation
had guys who looked like Bond villains and Mafia dons.
These guys look like they should be Ivan Drago's cornermen
in "Rocky IV."
They look like balloons in the annual Macy's day perp walk.
Now, compare the Republicans
to the credibility of the two witnesses --
State Department official George Kent
and Ambassador Bill Taylor.
Both witnesses directly tied Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani
to the Ukraine scheme,
with Kent using an especially interesting phrase.
-Over the course of 2018 and 2019,
I became increasingly aware of an effort
by Rudy Giuliani and others,
including his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman,
to run a campaign to smear Ambassador Yovanovitch
and other officials at the U.S. embassy in Kiev.
In mid-August, it became clear to me
that Giuliani's efforts
to gin up politically motivated investigations
were now infecting U.S. engagement with Ukraine.
-That's right, Rudy was infecting Ukraine policy.
And that's the right word to use
because he looks like the human version of the Mucinex man.
But Taylor -- Taylor in particular is a key witness
because he created a written record
of what was happening at the time
by writing down his concerns in text messages.
And he relayed those concerns again in his testimony.
-I and others sat in astonishment.
Ukrainians were fighting Russians
and counted on not only the training and weapons,
but also the assurance of U.S. support.
The explanation made no sense.
Ukrainians did not owe President Trump anything.
And holding up security assistance
for domestic political gain was crazy.
-Yes, it was crazy,
which is exactly why I believe Trump did it.
Any time Trump has a choice
between doing the sane thing and the crazy thing,
he picks the crazy thing.
That's true even when he stands.
He has the choice between standing like a normal person
or standing like a rooster defending his nest,
and he always chooses rooster.
Taylor also revealed some damning new information,
information he just received recently.
Taylor told the committee that over the summer,
during a trip to Ukraine,
a member of his staff overheard a phone call Trump had
with his handpicked ambassador to the E.U., Gordon Sondland.
In that call, Trump asked Sondland directly
about the investigations
he wanted Ukraine to conduct of the Bidens.
-Last Friday, a member of my staff told me
of events that occurred on July 26th.
A member of my staff accompanied Ambassador Sondland.
Ambassador Sondland called President Trump
and told him of his meetings in Kiev.
The member of my staff could hear President Trump
on the phone asking Ambassador Sondland
about the investigations.
Following the call with President Trump,
the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland
what President Trump thought about Ukraine.
Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump
cares more about the investigations of Biden,
which Giuliani was pressing for.
-Once again, these guys are the worst criminals in history.
Think about that.
Trump talked to a henchman on a phone call
about his plan to extort a foreign country,
and he was so loud, people could overhear him.
A good criminal would call and say, "Are you alone?"
Trump would say, "Are you alone?
If not, go find some people to stand next to.
Put me on speakerphone. This is a doozy."
This is a major bombshell, yet another piece of evidence
that directly ties Trump himself to this scheme.
We have the transcript, witnesses, text messages,
and now we have a damning new phone call.
If we had this much evidence during the O.J. trial,
even Johnnie Cochran would've been like, "You know what?
The glove does fit. My client's full of [bleep]"
This is yet another new piece of evidence
confirming that Trump had committed impeachable offenses.
In fact, George Conway summed it all up
with his very straightforward statement
about just how damning the facts have been for Trump.
-It's the ultimate impeachable offense.
You can't --
If you were going to make up a set of facts
that were as bad as you could get, this would be it.
-I agree, and just a thought here,
but maybe you could write that down on a Post-it
and leave it on your fridge.
What this hearing made clear once again
is Republicans have no defense.
They have nothing.
For example, Republicans also hired their own outside lawyer
to question the witnesses.
That lawyer tried to ask Taylor
about Sondland's involvement in the scheme.
Again, as you'll recall,
Sondland was Trump's handpicked ambassador to the E.U.,
not Ukraine.
So it's suspicious he was involved in any of this at all.
The GOP lawyer tried to get Taylor to say
that it wasn't suspicious.
But his line of questioning fell flat.
-I want to turn to the discussion
of the irregular channel you describe.
In fairness, this irregular channel of diplomacy,
it's not as outlandish as it could be.
Is that correct?
-It's not as outlandish as it could be.
-That's their best argument --
It's not as outlandish as it could be.
Trump should just run all the way with that
and start holding his rallies in front of a giant banner
that says, "Not as guilty as I could be."
[ Laughter ]
The GOP lawyer kept going on
with his bizarre line of questioning
about Sondland's role in the scheme.
And eventually, Taylor just gave up.
-His involvement here,
while not necessarily part of his official duties
as the ambassador to the E.U.,
it certainly is not outlandish for him to be interested
and engaged pursuant to the president
or Secretary Pompeo's direction, correct?
-It's a little unusual for the U.S. ambassador to the E.U.
to play a role in Ukraine policy.
-Okay.
And, you know, it might be irregular,
but it's certainly not outlandish.
[ Laughter ]
And then Secretary Perry --
-I mean, that was --
That was the entire series of expressions you make
when a guy comes up to you on the subway
and asks if you'd like to touch his pet lizard.
[ Laughter ]
Although probably the best moment of the hearing today
came when Republican congressman Jim Jordan
kept obsessing over the whistle-blower.
-Now, there is one witness,
one witness that they won't bring in front of us,
they won't bring in front of the American people.
That's the guy who started it all, the whistle-blower.
-I say to my colleague, I'd be glad to have the person
who started it all come in and testify.
President Trump is welcome to take a seat right there.
-I would love to see Trump testify.
Can you imagine that? After five minutes,
Rudy would probably be running into the room,
screaming, "Boss, I got all the evidence right here.
It's in my Notes app."
[ Laughter ]
By the way, while all this was happening,
Trump was at the White House
meeting with the president of Turkey.
Now, Trump retweeted multiple clips of the hearing
throughout the day.
And yet he insisted he wasn't watching the hearing
because he didn't have time.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-No, I didn't. I did not watch it.
I'm too busy to watch it. It's a witch hunt. It's a hoax.
I'm too busy to watch it.
-No, you weren't.
There's no way you were too busy to watch.
Trump watches TV all the time.
I'm shocked there wasn't a TV next to him
while he was answering that question.
[ As Donald Trump ] I'm too busy to watch. Hold on.
Oh, no, they know about the phone call.
Oh [bleep]
[ Normal voice ] Today was both historic and deeply revealing.
It's almost inevitable that Trump will be
the third president in history to be impeached.
Republicans made clear they have no defense.
Their best argument is that it might be outlandish, but it's...
-Not as outlandish as it could be.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]