The ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump will enter a new phase on Wednesday morning when the House of Representatives holds the first public hearings of the probe.
The hearings will kick off at 10 a.m. Eastern time when Democrats call two key diplomats in the Ukraine matter to testify: William Taylor, the top U.S. official in Ukraine, and George Kent, a State Department official.
Both men have already appeared behind closed doors to speak with lawmakers, but on Wednesday, they'll take their testimony public as they face questions from the House Intelligence Committee.
The hearing will be broadcast on C-SPAN and will likely be carried by most major cable news outlets. You can also follow along with the events with the live-stream below, courtesy of The Washington Post.
Taylor and Kent will appear side-by-side for the first public hearing. After House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and ranking member Devin Nunes deliver their opening statements, the two witnesses will be sworn in and read their own prepared remarks.
House Democrats decided to launch the probe amid reports that Trump tried to pressure Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The president has repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that the Bidens were involved in corrupt business deals. Trump also temporarily withheld nearly $400 million in military assistance for Ukraine's government.
After several weeks of investigation, the House passed a resolution to formalize the impeachment inquiry in late October and move the matter into the public eye. Trump has railed against the inquiry moving forward, stating last week that Congress "shouldn't be having public hearings" and that "this is a hoax."
Taylor previously told lawmakers that he was concerned with the "irregular police channel" the Trump administration was using with Ukraine, which included the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Taylor also said he heard from one Ukraine official that Zelenskiy "did not want to be used as a pawn in the U.S. re-election campaign."
Kent is the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. He previously told lawmakers that it was clear to him that Trump wanted "nothing less than President Zelensky to go to microphone and say investigations, Biden, and Clinton."
On Friday, the public will also hear testimony from Marie Yovanovitch. Yovanovitch was the previous U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. More officials are slated to testify next week, including national security official Alexander Vindman, former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker and former Russia aide Fiona Hill.
The ongoing investigation against Trump is just the fourth time in American history that Congress has considered formally impeaching a president and removing them from office. In two cases, the president was impeached by the House but ultimately acquitted during the Senate trial: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. In the third case, Richard Nixon resigned during his impeachment inquiry in 1974.
