The White House has released a very uneventful transcript as a very eventful hearing begins.
Pretty much exactly as the House Intelligence Committee began its second public impeachment hearing, this one with former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, the White House published a rough transcript of an April call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. There's not much substance in the congratulatory call, making it appear more like an attempt to distract from one of the most consequential impeachment testimonies yet.
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Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) unexplainably read off that pizzazzless call as his opening statement before Yovanovitch spoke, somehow not tripping up when Trump mentioned Ukraine's "representation" at his Miss Universe pageants and failing to recognize Yovanovitch was even there.
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