The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
⏩ Final impeachment hearings draw Connecticut residents to Washington.
WASHINGTON — On the final day of nationally televised impeachment witness hearings, public spectators lined up starting around 4 a.m. for the chance to enter the grand hearing room where two senior officials would testify about the president’s conduct toward Ukraine.
Hours later, state Sen. Bob Duff, DNorwalk, and state Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, DFairfield, listened from the front rows as David Holmes, a political counselor in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, told the House Intelligence Committee about President Donald Trump’s interest in starting Ukrainian investigations into his political rival.
Then, Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia, issued sharp criticism of Republicans on the committee for promoting the “fictional narrative” that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, not Russia.
“Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country,” Hill said. “The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions.”
Russia’s election information warfare is unanimously confirmed by the U.S. intelligence committee, Hill said, calling it “beyond dispute.”
“The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today,” she said. “Our nation is being torn apart. The truth is questioned.”
The invitees of committee member and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D4, Duff and McCarthy watched the hearing for about an hour before departing for a conference in Washington, D.C. Over the five days of hearings, several Connecticut residents have come to the Capitol for the chance to witness the momentous inquiry, including former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D5.
“To be able to be here in person to watch the witnesses, including Dr. Hill, was really an experience and watching history in the making,” said Duff. “I hope that everybody is watching and listening and hearing the work that goes on by people who normally don’t make the headlines.”
As millions tuned in on televisions and radios, the highprofile hearings have created a buzz in the normally quiet Longworth office building. Activists, tourists and students — some from places as far as Georgia, California and Italy — have formed long lines to attend the hearing. On one day, a drag performer in blond wig and sparkly red dress broadcast the action outside the hearing to her followers.
On Thursday, Kyle Pritz, a former U.S. Marine from Bethel, Conn., stood in vigil outside the hearing with about 30 other veterans. He came to Washington with the group Common Ground to hold the commanderinchief accountable, he said.
“I swore an oath to serve the country and defend the Constitution and that oath does not end when you leave the military,” said Pritz. “It seems right now that that oath is not being taken seriously by the president.”
Common Ground is part of the coalition Defend American Democracy, which has spent thousands on television advertisements pressuring Republicans to vote for impeachment, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Hill and Holmes testified publicly for several hours, answering questions from Republicans and Democrats.
Himes asked Hill, “Have you seen any evidence at all that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election?”
In response, Hill discussed an oped penned by a Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. that criticized Trump in the leadup the 2016 election. She noted that while many foreign ambassadors said “hurtful things” about Trump, few of those comments appear to have affected Trump’s views toward those countries. In contrast, Trump has said, “Ukraine tried to take me down,” Kurt Volker, U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, testified.
Holmes testified about the work of the U.S. embassy in Ukraine and his contacts with other U.S. diplomats and officials, including former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Republicans raised questions that Holmes’s account of a July 26 call between U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Trump about “investigations” was based on “hearsay.” Rep. Mike Turner, ROhio, said Holmes’s actions were “dubious” and suggested he wanted to embarrass Zelenskiy.
While working in Ukraine, Holmes also said he took notes during a meeting between U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy, DConn., and Ron Johnson, RWisc., and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Murphy described that meeting in a letter to the House Intelligence Committee sent Tuesday night.
Democrats believe the 12 diplomats and administration officials who testified publicly overwhelming made the case that Trump abused his power by using U.S. military aid and a meeting at the White House as leverage to pressure Ukraine to start an investigation into the son of former vice president and 2020 candidate Joe Biden. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company Burisma that has been previously investigation for corruption.
“Every single witness, every single email buttresses the case that the president withheld a meeting, a phone call and military aid in the service of getting an investigation of Joe Biden,” Himes said. “There is nothing about cutting our losses here.”
Republicans say they believe the president was interested in rooting out corruption in Ukraine and ensuring the country was not interfering in U.S. elections. They point out that the Trump administration supported Ukraine with lethal weapons and was conducting a review of foreign assistance to numerous nations. They believe Democrats are seeking to undo the results of the 2016 election with their impeachment inquiry and have previously used the investigation of former special counsel Robert Mueller to try to undermine Trump.
U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, RTexas, was the most critical Republican of the president Thursday. He said the administration’s actions have “undermined” national security and he disagreed with “this sort of bungling foreign policy.” But he said he did not believe a compelling impeachable offense was committed.
“I’ve not heard evidence proving the president committed bribery or extortion,” he said.
The hearings have featured highly partisan clashes as each side tries to highlight the facts that support their argument.
Meanwhile, Hill gave a dire warning about the 2020 election and the impact Russia could have on races for both parties.
“Russia’s security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2016 election,” Hill said. “We are running out of time to stop them.”
McCarthy Vahey said she was struck by the importance of election security from listening to Thursday’s hearing.
“We have to come together against a foreign threat and all the partisanship is really noise,” she said. “The fact of the matter is, all of us, Republicans and Democrats, care about preserving our democracy, so we do have to take steps.”