Promptly at 10 in the morning on Wednesday 13 November, in the biggest, most imposing hearing room on Capitol Hill, California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff gavelled to order one of the most extraordinary moments in US history and political life.
The specific allegation is that the US president tried to use all that power to lever the Ukrainian government into investigating former vice-president Joe Biden – a potential political opponent in the 2020 presidential election – and his son, in exchange for some desperately needed military aid and a meeting between the two presidents.
On this, the first day of public testimony, the two witnesses, Bill Taylor and George Kent, were systematic and unflappable throughout the day’s interrogation. Taylor is the acting ambassador to Ukraine and was called out of a retirement job at the US Institute of Peace to take the top job in Kyiv after the Trump administration suddenly recalled the then-ambassador Marie Jovanovitch.
Holmes will now be testifying in a closed-door session on Friday. Expect some very interesting leaks fromStill, after just one day, this first session has already shown the inquiry to be a highly potent vehicle for public education, if citizens will pay attention. The writer’s wife, originally from South Africa, found herself fixated by the proceedings as they were being broadcast on television.
But Watergate came along before there was the internet, social media, or even cable or satellite news channels – as well as 500 more niche channels to distract people. The national attention was captured early and held fully by live broadcasts of those Senate hearings – and then through rebroadcasts later in the evening. Time will tell if these current hearings have the same impact as the 1973 hearings did.