The committee will reconvene. When we recessed we were about to hear from mr. Castor. Mr. Castor, youre recognized for 45 minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for having me back, giving me the opportunity to testify about the evidence gathered during our impeachment inquiry. At the outset let me say the evidence does not support the allegations that my democrat colleagues have made. And i dont believe the evidence leads to the conclusions they suggest. Im hopeful to add some important perspective and context to the facts under discussion today. The chief allegation that the impeachment inquiry has been trying to assess over the last 66 days is this whether President Trump abused the power of his office through quid pro quo, extortion or whatever, by withholding a meeting or Security Assistance as a way of pressuring ukrainian president zelensky to investigate the president s political rival, former vp biden, for the president s political benefit in the upcoming election. The sec
[inaudible conversations]. We will come to order. Good afternoon this is a fourth in a series of hearings we are holding as part of the inquiry without objection the chairs authorized to declare a recess at any time. There is a quorum present. Well proceed today as an Opening Statement than the Ranking Member can make his Opening Statement and then we will turn to the witnesses and then two questions. Without a now recognize myself to give an Opening Statement into the impeachment inquiry of donald j. Trump the 45th president of the United States. This afternoon well hear from two witnesses Ambassador Special representative for ukraine negotiations and to morrison former senior director for European Affairs at an sei appreciate the minorities request for these witnesses as well as undersecretary of state from whom we will hear tomorrow progress we have heard from other witnesses when joe biden was considered whether to enter the price one the president ial race in 2020 giuliani began a
[indistinct conversations] shuttering] [indistinct conversations] the committee will come to order. This is the third in a series of public hearings that the committee will be holding as part of the house of representatives impeachment inquiry. The chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. We will proceed today in the same fashion as our first hearing. Ill make an Opening Statement and Ranking Member nunez will have the opportunity to make a statement. Well turn to the witnesses for their Opening Statements and questions. For audience members, we welcome you. We ask for your respect as we proceed with todays hearing. It is the intention of the committee rep. Schiff this meeting will come to order. Good morning everyone. This is the third in a series of public hearings the committee will be holding as part of the house of representatives impeachment inquiry. Without objection the chair is authorized to play recess of the committee at any time that there is a
Shared their recollection of overhearing this call. For g this call. For the most part, i have no reason to doubt their accounts. Its true that the president speaks loudly at times, and its also true i think we primarily discussed a ap rocky. Its true that the president likes to use color of language. Anyone who has met with him for any reasonable amount of time knows this. While i cannot remember the precise details, again, the white house has not allowed me to see any readouts of that call, and the july 26th call did not strike me as significant at the time. Actually actually, i would have been more surprised if President Trump had not mentioned investigations, particularly given what we were hearing from mr. Giuliani about the president s concerns. However, i have no recollection of discussing Vice President biden or his son on that call or after the call ended. I know that members of this committee frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question. Was the
2012 host of the Award Winning Rachel Maddow show for those you dont know three emmy awards including outstanding live interview and discussion and analysis. The original show has been nominated twice for Outstanding Achievement for 2010 and 2017 winning a gracie award and Interactive Media category. First gaining National Prominence as a host on radio where she works since the inception of 2004 prior to joining she had two networks here in western massachusetts in holyoke and northampton is a special honor to welcome her back to western massachusetts. And that New York Times bestselling moment and then before we get to that things would resonate with this community in particular. Not only progressive but its not to be forgotten and seems to devour whole libraries each day. So please join me to welcome Rachel Maddow. [cheers and applause] wow. So i do this tv show but theres only one person in the room with me but after that its all cameras so it is unsettling. So thank you so much for