The first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump will be televised live after weeks of claims, counterclaims and a torrent of disinformation from the president and his allies.
“Coup”, “scam” and of course “the greatest witch hunt in history” are among accusations repeatedly thrown around since the Democrat-led investigation began six weeks ago, not to mention a number of baseless conspiracy theories touted as fact.
But forget all that – it’s just a distraction from the indisputable facts of the case that we know so far.
Trump used the office of president to boost his chances of reelection.
On July 25 of this year, President Trump had a phone call with newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
There is a transcript of the call released by the White House, the words of which are not disputed by anyone.
This transcript clearly shows Trump asking Zelensky to launch two investigations: one to look at whether Ukrainians were involved in the 2016 election hack of the Democratic National Committee, and the second to ascertain if Vice President Joe Biden acted improperly and prevented an investigation into Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company whose board his son sat on.
There is no evidence whatsoever to back up either of these two conspiracy theories.
Joe Biden is currently one of the front-runners in the Democratic battle to challenge him in next year’s US presidential election.
Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine
One week before calling Zelensky, Trump told his chief of staff to hold back $400 million (£311m) in military aid for Ukraine, which had been already approved by Congress.
William Taylor, the US’s top diplomat in Ukraine, has since confirmed that the president blocked the aid and a meeting with Zelensky until Ukraine had agreed to investigate Biden.
“That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the president committed to pursue the investigation,” Taylor said.
Another US diplomat, Gordon Sondland, has also backed this up, claiming he himself was the person who told a Ukrainian official that the aid was tied to the investigation of Biden
Trump asked Zelensky to ‘do us a favour’
In the transcript of the call, released by the White House, it says in black and white: “I would like you to do us a favour.”
This line comes directly after Zelensky had discussed buying more weapons from the US “for defence purposes”.
The White House went to great lengths to cover up the call
Despite the call between Trump and Zelensky containing no sensitive national security topics, the White House moved the transcript of the call to a server normally reserved for highly classified material.
Army Lt Col Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine adviser at the White House, had been listening to the July 25 call and was disturbed by what he heard.
When he shared his concerns with White House lawyer John Eisenberg, Eisenberg proposed moving the transcript to the separate system.
In other words, the focus was on hiding the evidence rather than confronting what had happened.
Trump’s personal lawyer was doing things in Ukraine that a personal lawyer doesn’t usually do
Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani does not work in the White House or hold a US government position but was playing a large role in US foreign policy on Ukraine.
Working with the permission of Trump, US officials were told Giuliani was the point person for decisions around Ukraine. State Department officials have testified in closed door hearings about an “irregular channel” of people involved in Ukraine policy, including Giuliani.
In Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, he repeatedly asked the Ukrainian president to work with Giuliani ― even though, again, Giuliani did not serve in government.
John Bolton, then the national security adviser, reportedly called Giuliani a “hand grenade” and called the effort to pressure Ukraine for political purposes a “drug deal”.
Everything in the original whistleblower complaint has been proven correct
The whole impeachment inquiry was sparked by a still-anonymous intelligence official who was so worried about what Trump said in the call with Zelensky, he took his concerns to the top levels of the US intelligence services.
Trump and his allies have desperately tried to out the whistleblower to prove what they think are partisan intentions but even if the whistleblower is no fan of the president, it doesn’t matter – everything in the complaint has been confirmed by individuals with first-hand knowledge of the call, not to mention the transcript of the call itself.
Here’s what will happen
With a potential television audience of tens of millions looking on, two witnesses – William Taylor, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent – will be sworn in before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.
Lawmakers leading the probe released transcripts of closed-door testimony last week. They show Taylor believed a White House-led effort to pressure Kiev to investigate Ukrainian energy company Burisma was motivated by a desire to help Trump win re-election next year.
Taylor testified he had been concerned to learn that security aid to Ukraine, as well as a White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky, had been delayed for political reasons.
Kent said he had been alarmed by efforts by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and others to pressure Ukraine, Reuters reports.
He said Giuliani - who Democrats have accused of conducting a shadow foreign policy effort in Ukraine – had conducted a “campaign full of lies” against Marie Yovanovitch, who was abruptly pulled from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in May. She will give public testimony on Friday.
Taylor and Kent were testifying together because “they both were witness to the full storyline of the president’s misconduct,” an official working on the impeachment inquiry said.
For both sides, the electoral implications are clear in the impeachment process, which could crowd out other issues like the economy and immigration as the 2020 election campaign gathers steam.
Democrats are hoping to convince independent voters and other doubters that Trump was wrong not only in asking Ukraine to dig up dirt on his rival but in making it a quid-pro-quo proposition.
Republicans want to paint the hearings to voters as a partisan exercise by Trump’s opponents. It’s claimed they resent failing to gain more politically from an earlier special counsel’s investigation of the Trump team’s alleged ties to Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Trump is the fourth US president to face impeachment proceedings. None was removed from office, although Richard Nixon resigned as he faced almost certain impeachment in 1974 over the Watergate scandal.
The public hearings are seen as a likely prelude to articles of impeachment – formal charges – against Trump being brought to a vote in the Democratic-controlled House.
Even if that leads to an actual impeachment trial in the Senate, Republicans who control the chamber are considered highly unlikely to vote for Trump’s removal.
Additional reporting by HuffPost’s Amanda Terkel.