In the morning hearing before the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, both vice presidential adviser Jennifer Williams and NSC official Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman expressed their concerns about the July 25 call that Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Both of them were the kind of firsthand fact witnesses that Republicans had repeatedly demanded. Republicans responded to their presence and the availability of firsthand testimony by simply ignoring their statements and often by asking no questions at all.
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Williams described the call as “unusual” because it contained “what appeared to be a domestic political matter.” At several points, Republicans attempted to use Williams as a lever against Vindman, trying to get her to state that she did not share his alarm over the call or over how policy was being handled inside the White House. When Williams refused to join Republicans in their statements, they went ahead as if she had anyway—a tactic that only became clearer as the day wore on.
Vindman faced more questioning from Republicans, but not on the subject of his statements. Instead, Republicans spent the entire day smearing Vindman. That began in the opening questioning from Republican counsel Stephen Castor, who spent a large portion of his time planting the idea that Vindman had mixed loyalties because he was offered a job by the Ukrainian government—a job offer that he turned down and reported to his superiors. Over the course of the day, Republicans made a point of asking Vindman why he was wearing his uniform, of trying to diminish his service in the military, and of painting him as someone who is generally disloyal to his country.
Democratic representatives, particularly Jim Himes and Sean Maloney, did a very good job of not just countering the Republican narrative, but also pointing out the baseless nature of the claims and the ugliness of what the Republicans were trying to do. Maloney’s five minutes with Vindman in particular ended with the only genuine applause of the day, as Vindman expressed his confidence that “this is America” and he could testify to the truth without fear of consequences. Vindman made this statement even though the Army is now considering moving his family onto a military base to guard against a wave of threats made against them.
Several Republicans worked to make VIndman seem disloyal and “above himself” by taking brief phrases from his earlier testimony and attempting to make it seem as if he had gone around the chain of command. But through much of the morning, Republicans avoided dealing with facts by simply not asking any questions. Instead, representatives such as Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan simply spent their entire allotted time railing against the process, or talking about the Russia investigation, without ever addressing a question to either witness.
Several other Republicans spent their time attempting to bolster the conspiracy theories at the heart of Trump’s demands to Ukraine. That included Rep. Chris Stewart directly lying about the status of an investigation into the company Burisma at the time Joe Biden visited Ukraine.
Shortly after the hearing ended, Trump expressed his praise for Republicans’ fact-free morning. Which is appropriate, because facts are the last thing he wants.