Day 5 of the Pres. Trump impeachment public hearings in front of the House Intelligence Committee features the testimonies of Dr. Fiona Hill, former senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council, (and a British-born American) as well as David Holmes, a senior diplomat at the US Embassy in Ukraine.
The first break in the proceedings began at 11:05 a.m. ET, as committee members needed to head down the hall to cast voters on other matters. The hearing is set to resume at 12:30 p.m. ET.
One of the most notable moments from the early session was when Dr. Hill said former National Security Adviser John Bolton called Pres. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani a “hand grenade” who was going to “blow everybody up.”
Holmes said that he overheard Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland (who testified yesterday) discussing investigations with Pres. Trump the day after his July 25 call with the president of Ukraine, Zelensky.
Below are some early reactions from TV newsers concerning Dr. Hill’s and Holmes’ morning testimonies. We will continue to update this post as additional reactions roll in.
During the first break, NBC’s Chuck Todd remarked that the Democrats should think twice about closing up the case before getting former national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton in front of the committee. “Democrats have to think long and hard about an appearance that they’re sort of short-circuiting this.” Todd later used a baseball analogy in regard to the witnesses: “If today is the last day of televised hearings, I don’t think they [the Democrats] have their closer yet.” Bolton is the closest thing to a “closer,” Todd states.
ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos gives his analysis on the early portion of the proceedings.
.@GStephanopoulos calls ex-NSC Russia expert Fiona Hill’s testimony “a tutorial—and a warning—about Russia. https://t.co/3BHb2I9OBT #ImpeachmentHearings pic.twitter.com/Cu9jYNxpaH
— ABC News (@ABC) November 21, 2019
CNN’s Bianna Golodryga praises Dr. Hill:
Reading Fiona Hill’s testimony this morning is a reminder of how fortunate this country and this administration was to have her expertise in the WH. And what a deficit her departure was. There’s no doubt the take away today will be how impressive she is.
— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) November 21, 2019
Strong words from Fiona Hill for some members of Congress to chew on this morning: “in the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests.”
— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) November 21, 2019
By September, the State Dept learned that the admin was insisting that Ukraine’s president “commit on a cable news channel to a specific investigation of President Trump’s political rival.”
New impeachment evidence from David Holmes
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) November 21, 2019
David Holmes is testifying to much more than a phone call between Amb Sondland and Pres Trump – he’s laying the entire groundwork for Pres Trump’s efforts to get what he wanted from Ukraine’s new President
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) November 21, 2019
First Presidential “try this at home” tweet https://t.co/OcEurYuGrQ
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) November 21, 2019
.@FaceTheNation moderator @margbrennan: “[Hill] basically is saying: you are getting played, Republicans who are repeating some of the propaganda that the Russian government continues to push, which is that they, themselves, are not guilty of meddling in 2016.” pic.twitter.com/7enOAYZidQ
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 21, 2019
Fox News’ Chris Wallace remarked earlier this morning that all of the impeachment hearing witnesses seem to be in agreement that there was indeed a quid pro here, as well as how impressed he has been by the two who are testifying today.
Fiona Hill points out diplomats from a number of other countries said and wrote critical things about Pres Trump during the campaign, but it appears only Ukraine has been singled out for potential punishment
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) November 21, 2019