US starts historic impeachment inquiry hearing

William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent deputy assistant secretary of state, who were the first witnesses to testify, repeated much of what they had said in closed-door hearings earlier, transcripts of which have since been made available publicly.

US lawmakers grilled witnesses at the historic first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump on Wednesday as the president sought to keep pace with tweets and re-tweets attacking the proceeding.

Charge d'Affaires at the US embassy in Ukraine Bill Taylor prepares to testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on the impeachment inquiry into US President Donald J Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (REUTERS)

William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent deputy assistant secretary of state, who were the first witnesses to testify, repeated much of what they had said in closed-door hearings earlier, transcripts of which have since been made available publicly.

Among the few new information that had come up in the first round of questioning by Democrats was a conversation Trump had with US ambassador to EU Gordon Sondland the day after his call with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, which is at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

In that phone conversation, Taylor said, a member of his staff overheard the president ask Sondland about the “investigations” that the president had sought from Ukraine.

The Trump administration is alleged to have pressed Ukraine to investigate the president’s political rival former Vice-President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and the Democrats in exchange for lifting a block on nearly $400 million in US security aid and a White House meeting for Zelensky.

Republicans were scheduled to question the witnesses next.