45 photos show the key moments of Trump's impeachment so far
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Congress' impeachment inquiry looking into allegations of wrongdoing by President Donald Trump is well underway.
The inquiry centers around whether Trump's attempts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter amount to an impeachable offense.
By the end of Thursday, twelve witnesses will have given public testimony — including Bill Taylor, acting US ambassador to Ukraine; Marie Yovanovitch, former US ambassador to Ukraine; Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU; and Fiona Hill, the former director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council.
A dozen witnesses have testified publicly in President Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry so far.
The House of Representatives is investigating whether Trump pressured Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, by threatening to withhold $400 million in military aid.
Hearings hit television for the public to watch last week, and witnesses and questioners are under intense scrutiny.
Democrats are hoping the publicized hearings will convince the public that Trump should be impeached. Republicans are trying their best to distract and make the case that Trump should stay in office.
Here's a look at the process so far, in photos.
On September 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Congress was launching an impeachment inquiry to look into an anonymous complaint that accused President Donald Trump of pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. She said Trump's actions had betrayed his oath as president, national security, and the integrity of US elections.
Andrew Harnik / AP
Source: PRI
Trump was accused of withholding $400 million in military aid unless Ukraine investigated former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter for corruption. The two leaders happened to meet at the UN on September 25.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Sources:Business Insider, Business Insider
That same day, the White House released a memo detailing the call. It showed Trump told Zelensky the US did "a lot for Ukraine," and the phrase, "I would like you to do us a favor though."
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The impeachment inquiry began behind closed doors, much to Republicans' chagrin. Democrats said they began with confidential testimonies to maintain the integrity of the investigation. Explosive information still leaked out, though.
Patrick Semansky / AP
Sources: PRI, Business Insider, The New York Times
On October 23, tensions boiled over, when a group of 30 Republicans stormed a closed-door meeting, and delayed testimony by five hours over safety concerns.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Sources: Washington Post, Business Insider
On October 31, the House of Representatives voted 232-196 in favor of formalizing the impeachment inquiry. This meant the next stage of the proceedings would be outlined, and included the plan to make the hearings public. Trump tweeted that it was "The Greatest Witch Hunt in American History."
Mark Wilson / Getty
Sources: Business Insider, CNBC
On November 13, the hearings went public. This raised the stakes. When former President Richard Nixon's impeachment was televised, 80% of America tuned in for at least some of the hearing.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Sources: PRI, The New York Times
By televising the hearings, the Democrats were giving the public a direct look at the key figures, the process, and the allegations, hoping it would sway the public to support impeaching the president.
Robert F. Bukaty / AP
Source: Business Insider
Rep. Adam Schiff heads the House Intelligence Committee and is playing a key role in the proceedings. The Washington Post described his methodical approach as bringing a "prosecutor's sensibility" to the role, by staying calm and refusing to be baited.
Caroline Brehman / CQ-Roll Call Inc / Getty
Sources: The Atlantic, The Washington Post
The public hearings began with Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor confirmed the quid pro quo between Trump and Ukraine, and said in his entire career, spanning decades, he had never seen a president do as Trump had done.
Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla
Source: Business Insider
George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary for Europe and Eurasian affairs, gave his testimony alongside Taylor. It focused on former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's attempts to get information about the Bidens from Ukraine. He clarified that it was a personal mission of Giuliani's to get the damaging information, and not US foreign policy.
Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider
Kent also drew attention for his yellow and blue bow tie, and his 48-ounce Nalgene water bottle.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Source: Business Insider
Republicans used a variety of defenses to confuse and distract during the hearings, including characterizing Taylor and Kent's testimonies (which were given under oath) as inaccurate hearsay.
Drew Angerer / Getty
Source: Business Insider
Another tactic was calling for the anonymous whistleblower to publicly testify. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the most vocal Republicans during the hearings, said it was a sad day for the country that they would never get a chance to question the whistleblower, whom he described, despite not knowing the person's identity, as biased against Trump.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Source: Business Insider
Democratic Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont shot back and said, "I say to my colleague, I'd be glad to have the person who started it all come in and testify — President Trump is welcome to take a seat right there." His response was greeted with laughter.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Source: Business Insider
Former US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testified on November 15. She said she was removed from her post because she got in the way of efforts by the Trump administration to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. But while Trump said he had lost confidence in her, she said she'd done nothing wrong, and called her ouster a "smear campaign."
Andrew Harnik / AP
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, PRI
Daniel Goldman, director of investigations for the House Intelligence Committee, was a key interviewer during the hearings, and got the most from Yovanovitch.
Susan Walsh / AP
Source: Business Insider
He asked her two key questions — had she, in her 33 years as a foreign-service officer, ever had concerns about her job performance, and had she heard of a US president recalling an ambassador based on false allegations. To both she answered, "no."
Associated Press
Source: Business Insider
Trump's past and current tweets played a part in the proceedings. As Trump attacked her in real time on Twitter, saying everywhere she went "turned bad," Yovanovitch was asked how she felt about the tweets.
Joshua Roberts / Pool / Getty
Sources:Business Insider, Business Insider
She told the committee it was "very intimidating," to be publicly smeared. Experts told Business Insider's Eliza Relman that the tweets amounted to witness intimidation.
Associated Press
Sources:Business Insider, Business Insider
Like Kent, Yovanovitch stayed hydrated in her nearly seven hours of testimony.
Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty
When Yovanovitch finished her testimony, the audience and some members of Congress broke into applause, which is highly unusual.
Win McNamee/Getty
Source: Business Insider
On November 19, Vice President Mike Pence's foreign service aid Jennifer Williams gave her testimony. She and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who sat beside her, were the first White House officials to publicly testify. She said Trump's phone call with Ukraine was "unusual," since it was discussing domestic policy, rather than foreign policy goals in Ukraine.
Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Sources: Business Insider, Politico
Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient, testified that Trump's request was "improper," and that he had recognized "without hesitation," that he had to report Trump for his request. "It was my duty to report my concerns to the proper people in the chain of command," he said.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Sources: Business Insider, Politico
Visibly shaking, Vindman brought a human element to the hearing, reminding viewers that some of those who were testifying didn't often speak in public, but had been thrust into the spotlight. He spoke directly to his father saying, the fact he was sitting there testifying was proof his father made the right decision to come to America from Russia 40 years earlier in search of a better life. "Do not worry," he said, "I will be fine for telling the truth."
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Source: Business Insider
Even so, Republican counsel Steve Castor did his best to dismiss Vindman's testimony by alluding to the possibility his loyalty was divided, since he had been offered a position in the Ukrainian government three times. Vindman, who had rejected the offers and told his chain of command about them, shot the insinuations down. He said, "I'm an American. I came here when I was a toddler, and I immediately dismissed these offers. I did not entertain them."
Shawn Thew - Pool/Getty
Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider
Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, tried and failed to get Vindman to reveal who the whistleblower is. Vindman refused to disclose any information about them, and Schiff told Nunes, "The whistleblower has the statutory right to anonymity. These proceedings will not be used to out the whistleblower."
Alex Wong/Getty
Source: Business Insider
That afternoon, Ambassador Kurt Volker, the former US envoy to Ukraine, gave dramatically different testimony from what he'd said behind closed doors. He'd previously said Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani hadn't pushed for a corruption investigation in a meeting between US and Ukrainian officials. But publicly he testified that Sondland, who was to testify after him, had made "a generic comment about investigations," which he and others found "inappropriate."
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Source: Business Insider
He also dismissed accusations of corruption against Joe Biden's son Hunter, which Republicans had leaned on as a justification for Trump asking Ukraine to investigate. Volker said the accusations weren't credible, and a "conspiracy."
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Source: Business Insider
White House aide Tim Morrison, who sat beside Volker during the hearing and had heard the phone call between Trump and Ukraine, testified that investigating the Bidens "was not a policy objective." While he said he wasn't worried about the content of the call, he worried there could be "political consequences" if the call's contents were made public.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Sources: Business Insider, CBS News
On November 20, Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, testified. Despite gaps in his memory from a lack of note taking, his testimony was explosive. Right away, he said "yes," Trump had engaged in a quid pro quo with Ukraine. He produced emails incriminating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which showed Pompeo knew about Trump's attempt to pressure Ukraine. "Everyone was in the loop," he said.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider, The New York Times
He also said that while he worked alongside Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, it was against his will. "Simply put, we were playing the hand we were dealt."
Leah Millis/Reuters
Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider, The New York Times
During his testimony, Sondland mentioned A$AP Rocky at least five times, since the rapper had caused him to remember a conversation with Trump he'd had that he'd previously forgotten, where he said Trump asked about Ukraine investigating the Bidens for corruption.
Associated Press
Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider, Fox News
His memory became a focus for Republicans. While they'd begun his testimony by warning him he was there "to be smeared," a few hours later it was Republican counsel Castor calling Sondland's testimony into question, when he said, "You don't have records, you don't have notes because you don't take notes, and you don't have recollections. This is a trifecta of unreliability."
Win McNamee/Getty
Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider
Sondland confirmed he never spoke directly to Trump about a quid pro quo and said he had been told to speak to Giuliani about it instead. But he said he had spoken with Trump about 20 times, which contradicted comments Trump made that they didn't know each other very well.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Source: Business Insider
In response to heated comments from GOP Rep. Mike Turner who said Sondland's presumptions about withholding aid from Ukraine were based on "hearsay evidence," Sondland said, "I never said the President of the United States should be impeached."
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Source: Business Insider
Another bout of applause filled the hearing room when Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier cracked a joke about Trump being a liar. Republican Rep. Mike Conaway said the Washington Post fact-check gave "three Pinocchios" to a claim that the whistleblower had a statutory right to immunity, and she shot back, saying, "The president has five Pinocchios on a daily basis, so let's not go there."
Jacquelyn Martin/AP Images
Sources: Business Insider, The Hill
The next person to testify was Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary at the State Department. She told the hearing that on the day of Trump's phone call with Ukraine, the State Department received two emails asking about frozen military aid. One was from Ukrainian officials, the other was from a House committee. A third query came from a Ukrainian embassy official asking what was going on.
LOREN ELLIOTT/Reuters
Source: Business Insider
These queries were important, because they destroyed Trump's claim that it was impossible to perceive his phone call as putting pressure on Ukraine, since he said the freeze on military aid was only discovered weeks later. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell told Cooper, "Your testimony today destroys two of the pillars of the president's defense and one justification for his conduct."
Alex Wong/Getty
Source: Business Insider
Undersecretary of state for political affairs at the State Department David Hale was the last to speak on November 20. He said three important things: the first was that Yovanovitch had been wrongly removed, and she should have been able to continue doing her "outstanding" work. The second was that the State Department had pushed back against withholding aid from Ukraine.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Source: Business Insider
The third revelation Hale made was that the only agency that backed withholding support from Ukraine was the Office of Management and Budget, which is run by Mick Mulvaney, the White House's acting chief of staff.
Associated Press/Evan Vucci
Source: Business Insider
On November 21, David Holmes, the director of political affairs at the US Embassy in Kyiv, testified. He said US diplomacy and security issues in Ukraine were "overshadowed by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a cadre of officials with a direct channel to the White House."
Loren Elliot/Reuters
Source: Business Insider
He also confirmed former national security adviser John Bolton, who has refused to testify, had said in a meeting that military aid wouldn't be given to Ukraine until Ukraine's president had impressed Trump.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Source: Business Insider, Politico
Former White House national security aide Fiona Hill testified next. She began by dismissing claims it was Ukraine and not Russia that interfered in the 2016 US elections. She said promoting these political falsehoods needed to stop because they were helping Russia's interests. "These fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes." She also said the attacks on Yovanovitch were "shameful."
Andrew Harnik/AP Images
Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider
Although Schiff hasn't confirmed it yet, it's likely that after Hill's testimony on Thursday, the committee will begin drafting a report on what it has heard during the inquiry to send to the House Judiciary Committee, which would draft articles of impeachment.
Matt McClain / Pool / AFP / Getty
Source: NPR
