New Republican impeachment strategy goes down in flames before first witness is called

Republicans this week released a set of talking points on Ukraine that have already been refuted although the first impeachment hearing isn't until Wednesday.

According to Bloomberg, the talking points were distributed by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee.

• The July 25 summary of the call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy “shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure.”
• Both Zelenskiy and Trump have said there was no pressure on the call.
• The Ukraine government was not aware of a hold on U.S. security assistance at the time of the July 25 call.
• Trump met with Zelenskiy, although not in the Oval Office, and U.S. security assistance flowed to Ukraine in September 2019 -- both of which occurred without Ukraine investigating Trump’s political rivals.

Democrats contend that the call record shows that President Donald Trump did ask Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for a quid pro quo when he suggested that military aid would flow after Ukraine did a "favor" by investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

The idea that both Trump and Zelensky have denied there was "pressure" on the call is also not likely to convince Democrats, who believe that both men have a vested interest in that line of defense.

It is unclear exactly when Ukraine became aware that military aid had been frozen but Laura K. Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, testified that Ukraine knew about the freeze by early August.

The Republicans' final argument is that Trump did eventually meet with Zelensky and released the military aid.

But the White House only agreed to the release the aid and meet with Ukraine's president after officials caught wind that members of Congress were looking into it.

"Only at the last minute, after key members of Congress erupted in protest over Mr. Trump’s actions, did the White House release the aid," The New York Timesreported on Monday.