What we've learned from the impeachment hearings
FT's Lauren Fedor looks at the second week of public impeachment hearings in the US and why Republicans are showing no sign they will abandon President Donald Trump
Produced by Ben Marino
Transcript
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A dozen witnesses have now testified in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. They have put a public face on US diplomacy in Ukraine and shed new light on the Trump administration's activities there.
On Wednesday, Gordon Sondland, Trump's ambassador to the EU, said everyone was in the loop and confirmed in no uncertain terms that there was a quid pro quo, with the US president demanding investigations into Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and debunked claims of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
Ambassador Volker and I worked with Mr Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the president of the United States. Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and the White House meeting, the answer is yes.
But the Republicans have stuck to their strategy and keep saying it's a witch-hunt.
By undermining the president, who they are supposed to be serving, the elements of the FBI, the Department of Justice, and now the State Department have lost the confidence of millions of Americans who believe that their vote should count for something.
It's also too early to tell whether the televised hearings have changed public opinion. The latest polls show that Americans are split over whether Trump should be impeached and removed from office.
For now, it's up to Adam Schiff and the Democrats on the House intelligence committee to decide whether or not they want to call any more public witnesses. When they've wrapped up their investigation, the inquiry will be sent to the House judiciary committee, who will draw up Articles of Impeachment, to ultimately be voted on by the full House.
The Democrats are keen to wrap things up by the end of the year. But we have Thanksgiving holiday next week and just two more full weeks after that before the Christmas recess. They are running out of time. On Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the party wouldn't rush. But she also said they would not wait on the courts, where there are many outstanding cases of White House officials who have refused to comply with congressional subpoenas.
No. We're not going to wait till the courts decide. That might be information that's available to the Senate in terms of how far we go, and when we go. But we can't wait for that, because again it's a technique. It's obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress. So we cannot let their further obstruction of Congress be an impediment to our honouring our oath of office. Thank you all.
Whatever the timeline it's widely expected that the democratically controlled House will vote to impeach the president. But this remains a fiercely partisan process. And it's unlikely that more than 20 GOP senators will be willing to vote to remove him from office in an eventual Senate trial.
John Barrasso, a senior Senate Republican, told the FT that testimony did not move the needle for him and his colleagues. He said the case against the president was, quote, "very flimsy", and he saw no sign at all of Republicans abandoning Trump.
