U. S. Election. Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. We begin with the politics lead. 18 hours from now the first public televised hearings into the impeachment inquiry and the ukraine scandal, tomorrow well hear from two Trump Administration officials, bill taylor who repeatedly described in dpooe tail what he clearly saw as a quid pro quo saying he was told, quote, President Trump wants ukraine president zelensky to state publicly that ukraine will investigate burisma, the company that hunter biden once worked for, and alleged ukraine interference in the 2016 u. S. Election. And plus george kent who testified, quote, trump wanted nothing less than president zelensky to go to a microphone and say investigations, biden and clinton. Democrats today laying out the process for the hearings they hope will convince even more of the American People of the need to impeach President Trump and as cnns Alex Marquardt reports for us now, republicans are preparing their Defense Strategy which reli