Republicans are in agreement that the first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump was a dud. Democrats had called former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs to testify, but several lawmakers didn't hear one new piece of information. Certainly not anything that would prove Trump guilty of quid pro quo with Ukraine.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) summarized the affair.
We learned nothing new today and the facts remain the same:
— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) November 14, 2019
1. There was no pressure on President Zelensky
2. There was no investigation
3. Ukraine received the aid
4. Ukraine is better equipped to defend itself under Pres. Trump than Pres. Obama pic.twitter.com/BwrdXtbUBY
Despite the lack of bombshells from the first hearing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is getting even more defensive about the whole process.
"Perhaps you have not heard me when I have said this is something we do with a heavy heart," Pelosi snapped at reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday. "This is very prayerful."
"Because impeachment is a very divisive thing," she continued. "It's hard."
Pelosi was especially curt with James Rosen, a former Fox News anchor who now works for Sinclair Broadcast Group, when he asked why the legal rights of the whistleblower "prevail in this political setting over those of President Trump, who should ordinarily enjoy a right to confront his accuser?"
.@SpeakerPelosi to @JamesRosenTV: "I say to you, Mr. Republican Talking Points, what I said to the President of the United States, when you talk about the whistleblower, you're coming into my wheelhouse."
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 14, 2019
Full video here: https://t.co/jCkvgG4wMr pic.twitter.com/CYybOwenRs
"I say to you, Mr. Republican Talking Points, what I said to the president of the United States, when you talk about the whistleblower, you're coming into my wheelhouse," Pelosi responded. "I've more experience in intelligence than anybody in the Congress."
The whistleblower, she added, "is there to speak truth to power and having protection for doing that."
Despite yesterday's "boring" affair, we'll have another all-day hearing on Friday, when former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testifies.
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