-Today the house held
its third day of public impeachment hearings
and heard from two witnesses with firsthand knowledge
of President Trump's phone call with the president of Ukraine.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Suspenseful theme plays ] [ Cheering and applause ]
It is safe to say that, politically speaking,
these hearings have been very bad for President Trump.
70% of Americans now say Trump's actions towards Ukraine
were wrong and, since impeachment began,
Trump has campaigned for two Republican candidates
in deep red states, both of whom lost.
Trump even specifically told voters in those states
that he needed them to vote Republican
to send a message that they still support him.
-The headlines the next day: "Trump Took Loss."
I lift 'em up a lot.
So Trump took loss, so you gotta give me a big win, please, okay?
[ Cheering and applause ] Okay?
-Why does he talk to his own supporters
like they're children?
[ Laughter ]
He sounds like a degenerate gambler
who bet on his kid's Little League game.
[as Trump] "Come on, Tyler.
You've gotta give Daddy a win.
[ Laughter and applause ] If you don't think
you can get a hit, just lean in
and take a pitch off your noggin, Tyler.
[ Laughter and applause ] We need this, Tyler.
[ Applause and cheering ]
And Trump's reaction to the impeachment hearing
has only made things worse.
Last week, Trump attacked the former ambassador to Ukraine,
Marie Yovanovitch, on Twitter, during her testimony,
which legal analysts said could constitute witness tampering.
So, in advance of today's hearing,
anchors on Trump's favorite TV channel, Fox News,
begged him not to tweet, or even watch the hearings at all.
-If I were Trump, I wouldn't even talk about impeachment.
I wouldn't tweet about it.
-President should just ignore this whole thing.
Don't tweet during it.
Don't get outraged over it. It ticks ya off.
-Think about that: Fox News anchors
are telling the president to ignore the hearings,
[ Laughter ] even though Fox News
is airing those same impeachment hearings.
[ Laughter ]
Fox is telling viewers not to watch them.
Soon, they're gonna put up a banner that says,
"Change the channel.
Nickelodeon has cartoons."
[ Laughter and applause ]
At this point, Trump's aides are gonna have to distract him
from the hearings by sending him on a scavenger hunt.
"Okay, Donald, there's a free chicken nugget
hidden somewhere in the White House.
[ Laughter and applause ] [as Trump] Oh. Oh, I bet it's
in the secret vault where we hid the incriminating phone call
with the president of Ukraine.
[ Laughter ]
I'm comin' for you, nugget.
[ Laughter ] In fact, the public hearings
are going so badly for Trump
that Republicans who spent weeks complaining
the initial depositions were being held in private
are now going back
to say this should all be handled behind closed doors.
Here is Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson on Sunday.
-One thing I wanna point out is the damage that's being done
to our country through this entire impeachment process.
Those individuals that leaked this, you know,
if their interest was a stronger relationship with Ukraine,
they didn't accomplish this.
Having this all come out in the public
has weakened that relationship.
It has exposed things that didn't need to be exposed.
So, this would have been far better off
if we woulda just taken care of this behind the scenes.
-Oh, would that have been better for you?
Now that it's embarrassing,
[ Laughter ] you want to take care of it
behind the scenes?
[ Laughter, clapping ] What does that even mean?
"Look, let's just settle this in private
over a few beers with an arm wrestling contest.
Whoever wins -- Oh, damn it!"
[ Laughter and applause ]
[as Trump] Best of luck Nancy. Oh!
[ Laughter ] Damn you, baby arms.
[ Fresh laughter ]
And after this morning's hearing,
you can see why Republicans wanted to handle impeachment
behind the scenes: Because it's been devastating for them.
Today's first witnesses were Jennifer Williams,
the Russia advisor to Vice President Mike Pence,
who's worked for other Republican presidents;
and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman,
the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council
and a decorated war veteran.
They both heard
Trump's phone call with the president of Ukraine.
Vindman, for example, said he reported the call
out of a sense of duty
because it was inappropriate and improper.
Both witnesses could also provide
direct firsthand knowledge of even the smallest details
from the phone calls, like, for example,
the languages that were spoken.
-July 25th at approximately 9:00 am.
You both were sitting in the situation room
and you were preparing for a long-awaited phone call
between President Trump and President Zelensky.
Do you recall what language
President Zelensky spoke on this July 25th phone call?
-I know he made a valiant effort to speak English.
He'd been practicing up his English.
-Now, of course, he could've been referring
to the president of Ukraine or the president
of the United States. [ Laughter ]
"Mr. Chairman, President Trump
tried to brush up on his English, but, unfortunately,
he still hasn't learned how
to spell his own name right in tweets.
[ Laughter and applause ]
[as Trump] Hello. This is President Tehtum.
[ Laughter ] Yes, of the united to dates.
[ Fresh laughter ]
Williams also testified directly about what she heard
on that call and she said that she was concerned about it.
-I found the July 25th phone call unusual because,
in contrast to other presidential calls
I had observed, it involved discussion
of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.
-That's right. The call was unusual,
both because the president of the United States pressured
a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election
and also because it was Donald Trump
and everything he does is unusual.
Even the way he poses for photos is unusual.
I mean -- [ Laughter ]
Look at him. He sways back and forth
[ Laughter and applause ] like a 10-year-old
who really has to pee.
[as Trump] Uh, uh,
Pence told you to go before the picture.
Why didn't you listen?
Why didn't you listen and go before the picture?
[ Laughter ]
Now, Williams is an advisor to the vice president
of the United States and she heard the call herself
and, yet, Trump attacked her Sunday,
on Twitter, writing, "Tell Jennifer Williams
whoever that is,
to read BOTH transcripts of the presidential calls."
What do you mean, "whoever that is"?
She's an advisor to the vice president.
Soon, Trump's gonna start pretending
he never even met Mike Pence. [as Trump] "Oh, that guy?
I thought that guy was a Halloween decoration.
[ Laughter and applause ] I --
I put a bucket of candy in his lap for trick-or-treaters.
[ Fresh laughter ]
Now, in advance of the hearings, Republicans have tried
to impugn the integrity and character
of Lieutenant Colonel Vindman.
Yesterday, for example,
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson,
who we mentioned earlier, wrote a letter
suggesting Vindman was trying to sabotage Trump,
although he had no proof, whatsoever.
-Johnson writes this: "A significant number
of bureaucrats and staff members within the executive branch
have never accepted President Trump as legitimate
and resent his unorthodox style
and his intrusion onto their 'turf.'
They react by leaking to the press and participating
in the ongoing effort to sabotage his policies
and, if possible, remove him from office.
It is entirely possible that Vindman fits this profile."
-You think he's trying to sabotage Trump?
The only person who's trying to sabotage Donald Trump
is Donald Trump.
[ Laughter ] I mean, the guy commits crimes,
then goes on TV and confesses to them.
Honestly, there's a chance he's trying to get impeached
so he can collect unemployment.
[ Laughter ] [as Trump] Check it out.
Now that I've been fired,
I get two weeks severance, plus COBRA.
[ Laughter ]
Conservatives on Fox and elsewhere
have also claimed that, because Vindman speaks Ukrainian
and because he came here as a refugee
when he was three years old, he somehow has more
of an allegiance to Ukraine than the United States.
For example, the GOP lawyer assigned to question Vindman
brought up a job offer Vindman had apparently received
from a Ukrainian official,
a job offer Vindman immediately dismissed as comical
and reported to his superiors.
-Did Mr. Danylyuk offer you a position of defense minister
-[Laughs] -with the Ukrainian government?
-He did.
-And how many times did he do that?
-I believe it was three times.
-And do you have any reason why he asked you to do that?
-I don't know, but, every single time, I dismissed it.
-When he made this offer to you initially,
did you leave the door open? Was there a reason
that he had to come back and ask a second and third time,
or was he just trying to convince ya?
-Counsel, you know what?
The whole notion is rather comical.
I did not leave the door open at all.
-When he made this offer to you,
was he speaking in English or Ukrainian?
-Oh, Mr. Danylyuk is a absolutely flawless
English speaker. He was speaking in English.
-And that would be memorable, of course, 'cause it's rare
for anyone in the Trump White House
to hear someone speak flawless English.
I mean, Trump knows like five words,
Pence doesn't speak at all, and I'm pretty sure
[ Laughter ] Stephen Miller only communicates in demonic screams.
[ Fresh laughter ]
How are ya, Stephen?
-Aaaaaaaaaaah!
[ Laughter ]
It's true. You are a racist.
[ Laughter ] But, today
during the hearing, Vindman courageously rebuffed
any suggestion that he was somehow loyal
to any country other than the U.S.
and there was one moment where he reminded
GOP Congressman Devin Nunes of his Army rank.
-Mr. Vindman, you testified in your deposition
that you did not know the whistleblower.
-Ranking Member, it's Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please.
-Lieutenant Colonel Vindman.
-[as Nunes] Uh uh uh uh -- D'oh! [ Laughter ]
Ih ooh uh.
Look at Nunes' face.
I'd say he's bewildered, but he always looks like that.
[ Laughter ] Nunes looks like a waiter
who just realized he forgot the specials.
[ Laughter ]
[as Nunes] Uh, uh, we --
Huhhhh.
[ Laughter ] We have a fish.
It, um --
[ Laughter ]
[ Fresh laughter ]
It -- It come-- It comes on a plate.
[ Laughter ] Now, while this was happening,
Trump was asked about Vindman's testimony
and Trump claimed he had no idea who Vindman was.
[ Camera shutter clicking ] -Thank you for asking.
-I don't know him.
I don't know, as he says, the Lieutenant Colonel.
I understand somebody had the misfortune
of calling him mister and he corrected them.
I never saw the man. I understand, now,
he wears his uniform when he goes in.
No, I don't know Vindman at all.
But Vindman, I watched him for a little while this morning
and I think he --
I'm gonna let people make their own determination,
but I don't know Vindman.
I never heard of him.
-What? You never heard of him?!
I mean, it's one thing to say you've never met him,
but he's been in the news for weeks!
[ Laughter ] I mean, I've never watched
"The Masked Singer," but I know it's a TV show.
[ Laughter, clapping ]
During his Q&A with reporters,
Trump also attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
for moving forward with impeachment.
-The woman is grossly incompetent.
All she wants to do is focus on impeachment,
which is just a little pipe dream she's got.
What's going on is a disgrace
and it's an embarrassment to our nation
and, in the meantime, we can't get USMCA approved
because Nancy Pelosi is grossly incompetent.
She is incompetent.
-She's incompetent?! You failed
at almost everything you've done in your life.
You won an election where you got the second-most votes
and you spend most of your time wandering in circles
around the White House lawn,
[ Laughter ] like a kid waiting for his mom
to pick him up from school.
[ Fresh laughter and applause ]
I mean, look at him.
Look at that.
[ Cheering and applause ]
I thought he had his own helicopter.
He looks like he's waitin' for the bus.
[ Laughter ] He should be takin' a drag
off a cigarette, goin', "Screw it.
I'm walkin'. The MTA sucks."
[ Laughter and applause ]
When their attacks on Vindman's credibility didn't work,
GOP Congressman John Ratcliffe shifted tactics
and tried to claim that no one who testified
had ever specifically used the word bribery
in any of their depositions.
-No witness has used the word bribery
to describe President Trump's conduct.
None of them.
These aren't all of the deposition transcripts.
These are just the ten that have been released.
The number of times witnesses
have used the word bribery or bribe
to describe President Trump's conduct
in the last six weeks of this inquiry is zero.
-That's right. He can't be guilty
because they didn't use that exact word?
Republicans must spend all their time reading the Federal Code,
looking for crimes Trump isn't guilty of.
"Let's see here. Extortion? Guilty.
Uh, fraud? Oh, he's guilty on that.
What about speeding? Has he ever run a red light?
Damn it!"
[ Laughter ]
Once again, this hearing proved
that Republicans have no defense.
All they can do is attack the witnesses
because that's what Trump wants.
I wouldn't be surprised if Trump called Republicans and Fox News
before the hearing and said...
-You gotta give me a big win, please, okay?
[ Laughter ] -This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ]