GOP Lawmakers Disrupt Impeachment Hearing As More Damaging Details Emerge About Trump’s Misconduct

Republican lawmakers stormed a closed hearing room Wednesday, disrupting the House impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump and delaying a Pentagon official's testimony. In an extraordinary chain of events, dozens of Republican congressmembers pushed into a secure hearing room as Laura Cooper, the U.S. defense official who oversees Ukraine and Russia matters, was due to testify. A five-hour stand-off ensued. The spectacle unfolded one day after Tuesday's explosive testimony by William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. Taylor told congressional lawmakers that the Trump administration held up $391 million in aid to Ukraine for the purpose of pushing Ukraine to incriminate Trump's political rivals, particularly presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden. We go to Capitol Hill to speak with Mitch Jeserich, the host of Letters & Politics heard on KPFA and Pacifica Radio. And we speak with retired colonel and Vietnam War veteran Andrew Bacevich, co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.