Two heavy hitters will lead off

The public impeachment hearings over President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine kick off Wednesday, with two high-profile witnesses expected to detail their concerns that the administration sought to tie military aid to the country to an investigation of Joe Biden, his son and the 2016 US election.

The testimony will be carried live beginning at 10 a.m., when current and former Trump administration officials will answer questions about the president’s July call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

House Democrats argue that Trump abused his authority in pressing the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who scored a $50,000 a month gig on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma — despite a lack of experience — while his dad was vice president.

The commander in chief also pushed for a probe into the 2016 election, believing an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that meddled in the contest.

On Wednesday the first witness will be William Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine who told investigators that he learned shortly after he was tapped for his post that there was a parallel foreign policy channel set up that undermined national-security interests.

Next up will be George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs who has said that Rudy Giuliani defied the bipartisan backing of US support for Ukraine while pushing for political investigations.

On Friday, lawmakers will hear from Marie Yovanovitch, who was ousted as US ambassador to Ukraine in May after a campaign led by Giuliani ripping her performance and supposed lack of support for Trump’s policies.