(Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee held its third day of public hearings on Tuesday in an impeachment inquiry examining President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, with four witnesses testifying on two panels.
Republican Representative from Ohio Jim Jordan (C) questions former US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker and former Senior Director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council Tim Morrison during the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence public hearing on the impeachment inquiry into US President Donald J. Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 19 November 2019. Shawn Thew/Pool via REUTERS
The proceedings featured testimony from former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, former National Security Council aide Tim Morrison and Vice President Mike Pence aide Jennifer Williams.
Below are reactions to Tuesday’s hearings from outside the room.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, TO REPORTERS AT THE WHITE HOUSE:
“What’s going on is a disgrace, and it’s an embarrassment to our nation.”
“It’s a big scam.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SON, DONALD J TRUMP JR, ON TWITTER:
“Anyone listening to Vindman stammer through this seemingly trying to remember the Catch Phrases he was well coached on should get that. He’s a low level partisan bureaucrat and nothing more.”
WHITE HOUSE, ON TWITTER:
“Tim Morrison, Alexander Vindman’s former boss, testified in his deposition that he had concerns about Vindman’s judgment.”
DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE DAVID CICILLINE TO REPORTERS:
“When people like Lieutenant Colonel Vindman display this kind of courage, the White House reacts badly because they’re trying to keep this a secret, trying to keep the American people from learning the truth. And they will not be successful.”
REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE FRANCIS ROONEY TO REPORTERS:
“I don’t think there’s been a crime proven yet … But I want to see what happens. There’s still a lot of water to go down this creek.”
TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN MANAGER BRAD PARSCALE IN A STATEMENT:
“Democrats structured their whole sham impeachment hearing strategy with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman as the lynchpin and today it further fell apart. Vindman confirmed that the transcript of the Ukraine phone call is accurate, was forced to admit that the president alone makes U.S. foreign policy, and testified that Burisma was a corrupt company which employed the son of then-Vice President Joe Biden.”
“This could not have gone worse for Democrats and could not have gone better for Americans sick to death of this concocted, bogus circus.”
DAVID AXELROD, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, ON TWITTER:
“One other curious thing about the @GOP Qs. They assign a lot of importance to the fact that @realDonaldTrump approved lethal aid to Ukraine that Obama opposed.”
“But if the aid is so important to Ukraine – it also was a major source of leverage when Trump mysteriously held it up.”
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY, IN A FOX NEWS INTERVIEW VIDEO RELEASED BY HIS OFFICE:
“[This has] always been our game plan: just stick to the facts. Remember, these witnesses are the only people who have passed the audition for Adam Schiff. Remember, no due process, the President does not get an attorney in the room, the president does not get to request any witnesses. This is all about Adam Schiff and whoever passed his screening for the audition down in that basement.”
Reporting by David Morgan and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Lisa Shumaker