Sonali Kolhatkar speaks with Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People, and a constitutional lawyer who previously served as Assistant Regional Counsel in the US EPA. He is the co-author with John Bonifaz and Ben Clements or the new book The Constitution Demands It: The Case for The Impeachment of Donald Trump.

The highly anticipated first day of public hearings in the Democrat-led House Impeachment inquiry took place on Wednesday with testimonies from George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department, and William Taylor, former US Ambassador to Ukraine and top US diplomat in that country currently.

House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff laid out his goals for the hearing and before he could get opening remarks from the two witnesses, he was interrupted by several House Republicans. Kent and Taylor appeared to confirm the gist of what the original whistleblower was alarmed by – that President Trump was hinging US military aid to Ukraine on a political favor to investigate Joe Biden.

They also confirmed a number of irregularities such as Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s disturbing role in setting foreign policy and how Ambassador Marie Yovanovytch was improperly pushed out of her position.

Republicans attempted to deflect the conversation to conspiracy theories about Democratic wrongdoing, which Kent and Taylor seemed at a loss to respond to.

Adam Schiff Free Speech fo People Free Speech TV George Kent Impeachment Hearings Rising Up with Sonali Ron Fein Ukraine United States William Taylor