Trump fumes over impeachment as public hearings loom
President Donald Trump on Monday addressed a Veterans' Day memorial in New York City.
But high above him hung a word in the windows of a Manhattan skyscraper: "IMPEACH."
A few floors above that: "CONVICT."
The banners are a stark reminder of the challenges Trump faces as the first televised hearings begin in an impeachment inquiry into whether he abused the power of his office for personal political gain.
On Wednesday this committee room in the Longworth House Office Building will host public testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, as Democrats seek to make the case that Trump should be removed from office.
It will be carried by major broadcast and cable television networks and is expected to be viewed by millions of people.
And for a president who built his rise on his mastery of television, he may understand the threat better than anyone.
Democrats leading the charge have lined up witnesses they believe will establish that Trump tried to pressure the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Biden's son.
The witnesses have strongly corroborated the account of an anonymous whistleblower about July 25 phone call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which touched off the probe.
Republicans are readying a counter-attack, hoping to undermine the witnesses and the whistleblower, while defending the president, claiming he was justified in seeking investigations into the Bidens' business dealings in Ukraine.
Trump has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and in a Monday tweet called the proceedings an "Impeachment Scam."
It has been two decades since Americans last witnessed impeachment proceedings against a president.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) CLERK OF THE HOUSE PAUL HAYS OPENING THE SECOND DAY OF THE IMPEACHMENT DEBATE, SAYING (DECEMBER 19, 1998):
"A resolution impeaching William Jefferson Clinton, the President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors."
In 1998 the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved impeachment charges against Democratic President Bill Clinton.
The Senate - which holds the power to then remove the president once impeached - kept him in office.
In fact, no U.S. president ever has been removed through impeachment.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, RICHARD NIXON, SAYING:
"I had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in."
In 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned as a move toward impeachment gained steam over the Watergate scandal.
A century earlier, President Andrew Johnson survived a removal vote in the Senate, which failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to oust him.
That could replay itself this time around, with Republicans currently in control of the Senate showing little appetite for removing the Republican president.
But the public hearings risk further eroding Trump's reputation with voters heading into an election year.
The first witnesses will testify Wednesday.
