WASHINGTON (AP) The start of public impeachment hearings unfolding in Congress marks the first time the American public can watch and listen to the witnesses whose testimony is at the center of the Democrats investigation.
In several hours of testimony, punctuated by occasional bickering among lawmakers, some memorable moments have emerged.
Here are some key takeaways from Wednesdays hearing featuring the first public witnesses: George Kent and William Taylor.
TRUMP PUSHED FOR BIDEN INVESTIGATION
Hearings like this one can be scripted affairs. But on Wednesday, there was one early surprise.
Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, revealed for the first time that his staff members overheard the president speaking on the phone to another diplomat about investigations.
Taylor said some of his staff members were at a restaurant with Gordon Sondland, Ambassador to the European Union, on the day after the July 25 call between President Donald Trump and Ukraines newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Sondland used his cellphone to call Trump from the restaurant and the staff members could hear Trump on the phone asking about the investigations. Taylor took that to mean investigations into the Bidens and the Burisma Group, the Ukrainian firm that had hired Hunter Biden as a director in 2014, he told lawmakers.
Sondland told the president that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward, and after the call, one of Taylors staffers asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine, he said.
Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for, Taylor said in his opening statement.
I take it the import of that is that he cares more about that than he does about Ukraine? Schiff asked Taylor.
Yes, sir, he responded.
Taylor said he only learned about the call last Friday and didnt know about it when he appeared for a closed-door deposition with House investigators conducting the impeachment inquiry.
IS IT BRIBERY, OR A QUID PRO QUO?
The impeachment inquiry in many respects is about controlling the narrative. On Wednesday, Democrats seemed to begin to pivot, framing the actions of Trump as possible bribery and extortion rather than emphasizing a quid pro quo.
