By Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha and Amanda Wills, CNN
From CNN's Allie Malloy
President Trump may not be watching today’s hearing, his press secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed. But Trump’s Twitter account is actively retweeting on impeachment.
Trump has tweeted and retweeted 30 times on impeachment so far today.
Trump is scheduled to be in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Republicans in the Oval Office.
Grisham is certainly watching. She just sent her fifth tweet of the day on impeachment, once again questioning today’s witnesses.
From CNN's Phil Mattingly
A GOP lawmaker who was involved in the closed-door depositions said in a text message after Rep. Jim Jordan’s questioning of diplomat Bill Taylor: “That’s exactly why we put him on the committee.”
His point, he said, is that Jordan was able to zero in on a central element of the House GOP Trump defense – that nothing was first-hand as it pertained to what President Trump wanted or was asking for with Ukraine.
Asked if that meant he believed GOP counsel Steve Castor wasn’t effective, the lawmaker responded: “Let’s just say we would’ve been better off giving Jordan 45 minutes. I’ll leave it at that.”
Asked if, given the defense, he was concerned about what US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland – who is alleged to have significant first-hand knowledge of the President’s thinking and directives – would say given Taylor’s new testimony today, the lawmaker demurred. “We’ll deal with that next week. One day at a time.”
Rep. John Ratcliffe, a Republican from Texas, listed a slew of media sources quoting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying he felt no pressure from the US in his defense of President Trump.
"The Ukrainian president sitting in front of the world press and repeatedly, consistently over and over again, interview after interview, said he had no knowledge of military aid being withheld, meaning no quid pro quo, no pressure, no demands, no threats, no blackmail, nothing corrupt and unlike the first 45 minutes that we've heard from the Democrats today that's not second-hand information. It's not hearsay, it's not what someone overheard what Sondland say, that was his direct testimony," Ratcliffe said.
He then went to asked Bill Taylor, a diplomat in Ukraine, if he had any evidence that Zelensky was lying.
Taylor responded, saying he had "no doubt" in what the Ukrainian leader said.
Remember: Zelensky told international media that "nobody" pushed him in September during a meeting with President Trump. Trump was sitting next to Zelensky as he made the comments. Later, after consulting with a translator, the Ukraine leader: "I'm sorry but I don't want to be involved (in) democratic open elections of USA."
Watch here:
Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, and GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe, talked over each other after the Republican congressman asked, "Where is the impeachable offense?"
Ratcliffe — who was asking questions after Rep. Mike Conaway yielded his time over — asked:
"In this impeachment hearing today where we impeach presidents for treason, bribery or other high crimes where is the impeachable offense in that call? Are either of you here today to assert there was an impeachable offense in that call. Shout it out. Anyone?"
Taylor began to answer: "Mr. Ratcliffe, if I may respond let me reiterate that I'm not here..."
Ratcliffe said he only had one minute left to ask questions, and kept talking. The two men then both tried to keep speaking.
They eventually suspended the clock so Taylor could answer.
"I would like to say I'm not here to do anything having to do with — decide about impeachment," he said. "That is not what either of us are here for. This is your job."
Watch the moment:
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
State Department official George Kent just refuted a key Trump talking point.
Kent agreed with Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, who said that Trump’s efforts to secure an investigation into Biden was not a “thoughtful and well-calibrated anti-corruption program.” This built on what Kent told lawmakers in his closed-door deposition last month, when he said asking Ukraine to investigate Biden “is not anti-corruption.”
From the beginning, Trump has argued that his requests to Ukraine were part of a good-faith effort to root out corruption in a notoriously crooked post-Soviet country. But those arguments have never added up, because Trump’s supposed “anti-corruption” campaign was only focused on one person – Biden, a leading opponent in the 2020 campaign – and Trump never brought up “corruption” in past public meetings with Ukrainian leaders.
The debate over whether Trump was targeting a political rival or genuinely trying to end corruption is critical to the impeachment inquiry. Democrats could draft articles of impeachment saying that Trump abuses his powers for political purposes. Republicans could argue that Trump was promoting legitimate US anti-corruption policy in Ukraine. But those GOP arguments have been undercut by Kent and other key witnesses in the inquiry.
Prior to asking the witnesses any questions, Democratic Rep. Jim Himes said, "One of the things I find startling about these proceedings is that, faced with very serious allegations of presidential misconduct, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't engage or defend that conduct."
Himes went on to say that, instead, Republicans "spin theories about black ledgers and Steel dossiers and the startling revelation that Ukrainians might have been upset when a presidential candidate suggested that perhaps he would let the Russians keep Crimea."
Himes said Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, in his opening statement, "most disgustingly attacked the extraordinary men and women of the state department and the FBI."
Watch more:
There are 20 House Intelligence Committee members who still get to ask questions.
So far, only Chair Adam Schiff and ranking member Devin Nunes — who gave his time to Rep. Jim Jordan — have completed their questions.
Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut, is asking questions now. Here are the 19 others who will ask questions:
Democratic members:
GOP members:
A sheet of paper was just handed to Bill Taylor, a top diplomat in Ukraine who is testifying now.
Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio who was questioning Taylor, explained the paper was taken from Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland's testimony.
From CNN's Taylor Romine
A CNN reporter asked President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani outside his New York City apartment today if he's concerned that some Republicans may blame him for seeking investigations from Ukraine, saying it was all his doing and not the President.
Giuliani laughed and said he’s not worried at all. He said there is no reason to be worried — that they can blame him if they want, but eventually the truth will come out.
“I didn’t do anything wrong," Giuliani said.
He added: "I was asked to look into an alternative explanation in November 2018, and I investigated and found evidence. If they just wait and are patient for all the facts to come out, they will see what the truth is."