WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – The impeachment inquiry moves to open hearings this week and Republicans and Democrats are both trying to clarify their message to the American people while a fight begins over which witnesses Republicans will be able to call.
The televised hearings are set to begin on Wednesday, starting with the top American diplomat in Ukraine, a 50-year public servant, who gave closed-door testimony that could be damaging to the president.
As the public phase of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump moves from “on paper” to “in person,” Democrats are looking to simplify their message to the American people, moving away from the phrase “quid pro quo.”
Democrat Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut said, “The president acted criminally and extorted in the way a mob boss would extort somebody, a vulnerable foreign country, it’s probably best not to use Latin words to explain it.”
House Democrats believe three current and former State Department officials testifying on camera this week will reinforce the case that President Trump withheld military aid to get Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, including Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Republicans are hoping to shift the focus, requesting a list of witnesses that includes the whistleblower and Hunter Biden, who they want to ask about business dealings in Ukraine while his father was vice president.
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said, “It’s unfair to treat Trump under one standard and Joe Biden under a different standard.”
Democrats get to approve who appears based on rules set by Republicans during the last impeachment and they say bringing in the Bidens is an unfounded distraction.
The president wants his party to defend him more directly, tweeting Republicans shouldn’t say his July call to Ukraine’s leader was “not perfect” but “not impeachable” but rather that “nothing was done wrong.” He said, “This is a WITCH HUNT at the highest level.”
This comes while the president’s acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney moves to join a lawsuit to make a court decide whether he should comply with a Congressional subpoena to testify or follow White House wishes to stay away.
President Trump has said he’ll release records Tuesday from a second earlier phone call with Ukraine’s president.
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