Diplomats accuse Trump as impeachment hits live TVs

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (AP): For the first time, the Democrats' case for President Donald Trump's impeachment streamed from Americans' TVs Wednesday, including a new contention that he was overheard asking about political "investigations" that he demanded from Ukraine in trade for military aid.

On Day One of extraordinary public U.S. House hearings - only the fourth formal impeachment effort in U.S. history - career diplomats testified in the open after weeks of closed-door interviews aimed at removing the nation's 45th president.

The account they delivered was a striking though complicated one that Democrats say reveals a president abusing his office, and the power of American foreign policy, for personal political gain.

"The matter is as simple and as terrible as that," said Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the Intelligence Committee, as he opened the daylong hearing. "Our answer to these questions will affect not only the future of this presidency but the future of the presidency itself."

Career diplomat William Taylor, the charge d'affaires in Kyiv, offered new testimony that Trump was overheard asking on the phone about "the investigations" of Democrats that he wanted Ukraine to pursue that are central to the impeachment inquiry.

Trump said he was too busy to watch on Wednesday and denied having the phone call. "First I've heard of it," he said when asked.

All day, the diplomats testified about how an ambassador was fired, the new Ukraine government was confused and they discovered an "irregular channel" - a shadow U.S. foreign policy orchestrated by the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, that raised alarms in diplomatic and national security circles.

The hearing, playing out on live television and in the partisan silos of social media, provided the nation and the world a close-up look at the investigation.

At its core, the inquiry stems from Trump's July 25 phone call when he asked Ukraine's newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for "a favor."

Trump wanted the Ukraine government to investigate Democrats' activities in the 2016 election and his potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden-all while the administration was withholding military aid for the Eastern European ally that is confronting an aggressive neighbor, Russia.

Both sides tried to distill it into soundbites.

Democrats said Trump was engaged in "bribery" and "extortion." Republicans said nothing really happened - the military aid was ultimately released after Congress complained.

Trump restated his aggressive defense with rapid-fire tweets, a video from the Rose Garden and a dismissive retort from the Oval Office as he met with another foreign leader.

"It's a witch hunt. It's a hoax," he said as he appeared with visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by his side.

Across the country, millions of Americans were tuning in - or, in some cases, deliberately tuning out.

Viewers on the right and left thought the day underscored their feelings. Anthony Harris, cutting hair in Savannah, Georgia, had the hearing on in his shop, but he said, "It's gotten to the point now where people are even tired of listening."