both occurred without ukraine investigating president trump s political rival. the 18-page staff memo obtained by fox also notes president trump s deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of ukraine and u.s. tax-payer funded aid of corruption. he also notes the skips as an overall but u.s. foreign aid and the need for allies to do more. a key house democrat is also questioning the g.o.p. defense. we need to get to the facts, but i think saying something that is not true as a part of the defense is not going to be helpful. it is clear the ukrainians did no aid was being withheld. there are discussions that took place that indicate that. the intelligence committee s top republican sounds pessimistic over the overall atmosphere going into these open public hearings. my guess is it s going to be a complete circus. we are not going to get any of our witnesses. the mainstream media is going to
george kent will also appear. cent brings decades of experience having worked in the obama administration. he could also provide deep context as to what happened before and after trump s involvement with ukraine. as the prublic just begins to pt names to faces, the white house is rolling out strategies for how to frame their messages. house republicans have circulated a memo that claims, quote, four pieces of evidence are fatal to allegations against the president. all right. for those details let s get right to capitol hill and nbc s geoff bennett. jef geoff, what s the latest? reporter: republicans seem to think that the more narrow the focus of this ukraine question the better it is for president trump. you mentioned that republican staff memo that i m told was circulated last night from you read through the latest line of defense from republicans, they re all entirely focused on the finer points of this july 25th phone call between president trump and his
impeachment investigation yielded growing evidence that renders the whistleblower s testimony, quote, redundant and unnecessary and would only place their personal safety at grave risk. axios is reporting tonight that house republicans on the impeachment committee have settled on four talking points that they will use to undermine the democrats arguments that the president should be impeached according to a staff memo circulated to committee members monday night. we ll discuss those republican talking points in the secret staff memo that s not so secret anymore with david jolley after this break. jolley after this break about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say thank you, real people. you re welcome.
struck me about reporting coming out of house democrats in the impeachment side, we ve not yet heard whether the public will hear testimony from gordon sond land. reporter: right. what is this week and what happens next? the republican strategy, and you mentioned some of the reporting we put out today based on that staff memo that was circulated yesterday that outlines the latest line of defense really. their view is that the more you can narrow the focus of this ukraine question, the better it is for president trump. they put out four points. one of them is hang on, geoff, i ll put them up on screen while you read them. go ahead. reporter: when i say these talking points don t hold up that, is not a partisan statement but statement of fact based on the reporting we ve been doing for a month of
chairman adam schiff responded to the republicans request saying they were consider republican requests but added the impeachment inquiry and the committee will not serve as vehicles for individuals to carry out the same sham investigations into the bidens or the debunked conspiracy theories about the 2016 presidential election that president trump to conduct for his personal political benefit. he threatened to retaliate against the whistleblower. he also made clear that the impeachment investigation yielded growing evidence that renders the whistleblower s testimony, quote, redundant and unnecessary and would only place their personal safety at grave risk. axios is reporting tonight that house republicans on the impeachment inquiry have settled on four talking points that they will use to undermine the democrats arguments that the president should be impeached, according to a staff memo