‘Donald Trump put Joe Biden ahead of Ukraine’

A senior US diplomat claimed that Donald Trump was more concerned about probes into Joe Biden than he was with other Ukraine issues.

‘A rancorous story’: George Kent and William Taylor are sworn in before the intelligence committee on Thursday. Picture: AP

The first public hearing in the impeachmen­t inquiry has heard an explosive claim by a senior US diplomat that Donald Trump was more concerned about investig­ations into Joe Biden than he was with other Ukraine issues.

It came on a historic day when Democrats and Republicans on the House of Representatives intelligence committee fought openly as Mr Trump became only the fourth president to be the subject of public impeachment hearings in Washington.

In front of an overflowing chamber on Capitol Hill, the first key witness — the top US diplomat in Ukraine, William Taylor — surprised the committee with new claims about Mr Trump’s actions on Ukraine.

Mr Taylor told the inquiry a member of his staff overheard a telephone call between the President and US envoy to the EU Gordon­ Sondland on July 26, a day after Mr Trump had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The aide, who was in a restaurant with Mr Sondland, overheard the President on the phone asking Mr Sondland about “the investig­ations”.

“Following the phone call with President Trump a member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine,’’ Mr Taylor testified. “Ambassador Sondland respon­d­ed­ that President Trump cares more about the investigation of Biden, which (Rudy) Giuliani was pressing for.”

When questioned later that day about the allegation, Mr Trump said he had no recollection of that phone call with Mr Sondland.

“I know nothing about that, first time I’ve heard it,’’ he said. “I don’t recall it, not even a little bit.”

Mr Trump, who did not watch the hearings because of meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the public hearings were a “joke”, a “sham” and a “hoax” that “shouldn’t be allowed”. ‘(“It is) all third hand information, nothing direct at all,’’ he said.

The first day of the hearings began with duelling opening statements by the ranking Democrat and Republican on the committee.

Democrat committee chairman Adam Schiff said the proceedings would determine not just the future of Mr Trump but that of the office he holds.

“Our answer to these questions will affect not only the future of this presidency but the future of the presidency itself and what kind of conduct the American people may come to expect from their commander-in-chief,” he said.

Mr Schiff attacked Mr Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for his claim that Americans should “get over it” in relation to the Ukraine controversy.

“If we find that the President of the United States abused his power and invited foreign interference in our elections … must we simply get over it?” Mr Schiff asked. “Is that what Americans should now expect from their president? If this is not impeachable conduct, what is?”

The ranking Republican, Devin Nunes, countered with a blistering attack on the credibility of the impeachment inquiry, describing it as a “televised theatrical performance staged by the Democrats”.

Mr Nunes raised the false claims made by the Democrats about collusion and other issues during the Russia investigation, saying they were “the last people on Earth with the credibility to hurl more preposterous accusations at their political opponents”.

In their opening statements, the first two witnesses, Mr Taylor and senior State Department official­ George Kent, laid out their claim that official US policy on Ukraine was upended by an irregular­ channel led by Mr Giuliani, the President’s lawyer.

They said those involved in that channel pushed for Ukraine to announce­ a public investigation into Mr Biden, in accordance with the wishes of the President.

Mr Taylor outlined a detailed chronology of how there were two channels of US diplomacy on Ukraine — one led by himself, the other by Mr Giuliani. “There are two Ukraine stories today,” he said. “The first … is a rancorous story about whistleblowers, Mr Giuliani, side channels, quid pro quos, corruption, and interference in elections. In this story Ukraine is merely an object.”

Republican Jim Jordan attacked Mr Taylor, accusing him of peddling in hearsay. “We’ve got six people having four conversations in one sentence and you told me this is where you got your ‘clear understanding’,” Mr Jordan said.

Republican legal counsel Steve Castor asked Mr Taylor and Mr Kent whether they were aware Mr Biden’s son Hunter had no rele­v­ant business when he was appointed to the board of Ukraine energy company Burisma.

Mr Kent said he had relayed his concern to the State Department about a possible perception of conflic­t of interest with Hunter Biden employed by Burisma at the same time as his father, the then vice-president, was tackling corrup­tion in Ukraine.