In September, he gave a summary of Trump’s July 25th call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, incorrectly claiming that Trump asked Zelensky to “make up dirt”on Biden. The attacks give him little room for error. “Once I arrived in Kyiv,” Taylor told lawmakers, “I discovered a weird combination of encouraging, confusing and ultimately alarming circumstances.” Schiff describes both as “apolitical individuals who just want what’s best for the country,” and in their testimony both expressed alarm about the shadow operation, run primarily by Trump’s political appointees and personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, to persuade the new Ukraine administration to announce investigations they believed would benefit Trump politically. State Department official, as the first two witnesses on the public stage. chargé d’affaires in Kiev, and George Kent, a top U.S. 13, Schiff picked William Taylor, who serves as the U.S. But most of the allegations have already leaked or been made public by lawmakers, so the real goal of Schiff and the Democrats is to convince members, and voters, that Trump’s withholding nearly $400 million in foreign aid to Ukraine, in exchange for a promise of an investigation into his chief political rival Joe Biden, is such an abuse of the power of his office that he should be the first President ever removed by Congress. Some have testified that Trump was using the power of his office to advance his own interests to the detriment of American national security. Over the next two weeks, his committee will hear again, this time on the public stage, from 11 witnesses who have privately alleged that the Trump Administration used Ukraine policy improperly. “We’re determined to do our very best to bring out the facts.” “All of us are aware of the historical significance of what’s going on, of what it means to the country,” he says. It’s only when asked about the stakes of the hearings that he concedes this test is anything but academic. He’s “almost” finished writing his opening statement, he says, and he even hopes to get a little bit of sleep before tomorrow morning. Key staffers from both parties have spent the day circulating talking points and making their case to the media.īut Schiff, who has become the public face of the probe, is seated casually in one of the chairs strewn around a small, wood-paneled room off the floor of the House of Representatives. As lawmakers hurry to vote, reporters trail them with questions about the next day’s drama.

On the evening before the first public impeachment hearings of the 21st century, the anticipation on Capitol Hill is palpable.

Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has the calm demeanor of a student who knows he’s ready for a big exam.

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