ARIZONA NEWS
US Reps. Biggs, Lesko leave impeachment hearing unimpressed
Nov 14, 2019, 10:59 AM | Updated: 11:38 am
PHOENIX – The first public hearing of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s phone call to the Ukraine was historic, yes, but two U.S. representatives from Arizona were not impressed.
“Everything the witnesses said yesterday was based on … we’re not talking someone who was in the room who told (the panel), we’re talking someone who was in the room who told someone else,” Republican Andy Biggs said on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News early Thursday.
‘It’s like that REO Speedwagon (song) – ‘I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another …'”
Republican Debbie Lesko, who sits on Judiciary Committee subpanels for immigration and Homeland Security, told The Chad Benson Show on Wednesday, “It was, quite frankly, kind of boring. There was nothing new.
“I don’t know what the Democrats’ endgame is here. It doesn’t seem very politically smart to me.”
Diplomats William Taylor and George Kent testified Wednesday.
Taylor said a staff member recently told him of overhearing Trump when they were meeting with another diplomat, U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, at a restaurant the day after Trump’s July 25 phone call to the Ukrainian president.
The call, in which Trump may or may not have pressured the foreign leader to investigate Democrat Joe Biden, is one of the focuses of the hearings.
The open hearings continue Friday with more testimony and even more witnesses next week.
After that, there will be another round of closed-door meetings, Biggs said.
“My guess is they’re going to reevaluate whether they should even go forward,” he said.
Biggs initially thought impeachment proceedings were inevitable but has changed his mind.
“(The testimony) is not moving the ball forward on why you think the president should be removed from office,” Biggs said.
Lesko believed the impeachment probe will go the distance but added, “I have seen nothing that is impeachable.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
