Republicans spent the morning and early afternoon trying to obscure the basic facts of what Lt. Col Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams were testifying to in the impeachment hearing. Rep. Sean Maloney took his time to clear away the dust he said Republicans had kicked up, saying “Let’s do it again. Let’s do the substance.”
Maloney ran through the facts: Williams heard Donald Trump say “unusual and inappropriate” things to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about investigating the Bidens. Vindman was in a meeting in which Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland talked about conditioning White House meetings on Ukraine launching the investigation Trump wanted, and he reported it to the National Security Counsel lawyer. He, too, heard Trump’s voice on the call. Vindman “couldn’t believe what I was hearing” and worried about national security implications, so he reported that, too.
These are the facts as presented by these fact witnesses, people who, as Maloney emphasized, were listening to the Trump-Zelensky call.
Maloney also returned to the Republican efforts to smear Vindman, askying “Why do you have confidence that you can do that, and tell your dad not to worry?”
“Congressman, because this is America,” Vindman replied. “This is the country I've served and defended. That all of my brothers have served. And here, right matters.”
Well, we hope so. As, apparently, do some of the people in the hearing room—Vindman’s words were met with applause.