After two incredibly long days of impeachment hearings, some news broke -- and this news is potentially devestating to Donald Trump and the GOP talking points. One of the arguments that the GOP had been making for weeks is that the Ukranians had no idea the aid was being held up. But, Laura Cooper, a high level Pentagon employee blew that talking point out of the water in her opening statement and during subsequent questioning.
Here is the story in a nutshell. Donald Trump had a call with Ukraine's new President, Zelensky, on July 25th. This is the infamous "Do me a favor, though" phone call where he talked about Crowdstrike, Burisma and the Bidens. No corruption, though.
Immediately after that call, the Ukranian's reached out the Cooper or her staff to ask about the status of the aid.
That is bad. It shows they had a feeling that something was off. They may not have been told that the aid was held up, but they suspected there could be a potential issue. And that suspicion led them to reach out to the Pentagon.
Here is what Cooper said when asked directly by Rep. Schiff to elaborate on what happened after the July 25th call.
SCHIFF: Did that connote to you that they were concerned that something was going on with it?
COOPER: Yes, sir.
Later in the exchange, Schiff asked if the Ukranian Embassy staff had also reached out to the State Department and Ms. Cooper said "yes" as well.
Another GOP talking point, obliterated.
