Curtains open in historic U.S. drama
WASHINGTON • Only the clicking of cameras broke the silence in Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building when Bill Taylor and George Kent rose together to take their oath.
Taylor in a black suit, Kent wearing his trademark bow tie, they stood alone, not just before the few hundred people present but millions of Americans watching live on television.
Right arms raised with hands facing the front, the pair were asked if they promised to tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
“I do,” they responded in unison.
The path that had brought these two seasoned U.S. diplomats, with more than 75 years of public service between them, to the first public impeachment hearing against Donald Trump was a winding one.
The inquiry had been running for 50 days already, with 15 witnesses and more than 100 hours of testimony. But it had all been behind closed doors. Now it was time to let the public in.
The room selected was befitting of the historic nature of the moment.
A chandelier with fake candles hung from the roof. Lush, blue curtains 30-feet high were pinned to the walls, as were six oil portraits of notable past congressmen. Members of the public who had braved frigid temperatures on Capitol Hill had begun queuing outside the door long before the 10 a.m. start.
It was around 10:05 a.m. that Taylor and Kent, respectively America’s top Ukraine diplomat and a senior state department official, entered the room from a side door.
Walking in without a word, they took their seats at a wooden desk in the centre of the room. Before them were two rows of House intelligence committee members: Republicans on the right, Democrats on the left.
After the partisan opening statements concluded, it
HE DESCRIBED MORE THAN 50 YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE.
was over to the two U.S. officials to swear their oath and give their testimony. Within minutes, it became clear why the Democrats, who have the committee’s majority, and so the power, had selected them.
Kent begun by describing how he was the third generation of his family to choose public service. He had been a “non-partisan” diplomat for more than 27 years, under five presidents. Taylor, speaking in the same measured tones, started likewise. He described more than 50 years of public service, including a stint fighting in Vietnam.
The message, Democrats hoped, was clear: these men were not deep state operatives or political hacks, as Trump allies have portrayed those willing to speak out, but patriots.
Two miles away in the White House, it appeared the president himself was following. He issued a flurry of tweets sharing messages quoting supportive Republican congressmen giving their spin on the saga. For the White House, the hearing was dull. “#Snoozefest” tweeted Trump’s son, Eric.