House Judiciary holds high-stakes impeachment hearing

By Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 6:50 PM ET, Mon December 9, 2019

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9:25 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

Nadler: "President Trump put himself before country"

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler outlined why he thinks President Trump violated his oath of office and the Constitution in his opening remarks this morning.

He laid out the Democrats' case against Trump, arguing that the President "put himself before country."

"On July 25, President Trump called President Zelensky of Ukraine and asked him for a favor. That call was part of a concerted evident — effort to announce an investigation not an investigation of corruption writ large but an investigation of President Trump's political rivals and only his political rivals. President Trump put himself before country," Nadler said.

The chairman continued: "The record shows that president trump withheld military aid, allocated by the United States congress, from Ukraine. It also shows that he withheld a white house meeting from President Zelensky. Multiple witnesses, including respected diplomats, national security professionals, and decorated war veterans, all testified to the same basic fact. President Trump withheld the aid and the meeting in order to pressure a foreign government to do him that favor. President Trump put himself before country."

Watch more:

9:19 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

Protester interrupts Nadler's opening statement

Moments into House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler's opening statement, a protester loudly interrupted the hearing.

"Jerry Nadler and the Democratic party are committing treason in this country!" the protester yelled before being removed from the hearing.

Nadler then brought the hearing back to order.

Watch the moment:

9:20 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

The hearing just started

House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler just gaveled in today's impeachment inquiry hearing.

He's giving his opening statement now. When he's done, the top Republican on the committee, Rep. Doug Collins, will give his statement. After that, lawyers for the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees will make opening arguments.

Watch:

9:08 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

New Republican counsel will be asking questions today

From CNN's Jeremy Herb

Republicans have a new staffer asking questions today, according to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.

Ashley Hurt Callen is asking questions for the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Mike Conaway said he worked with Callen at the House Agriculture Committee.

"Her dedication to her work is only matched by her devotion to her family. Ashley has a deep understanding of the law, and her commitment to oversight makes her a terrific asset to the judiciary committee," he said.

8:58 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

How today's impeachment inquiry hearing will work

The House Judiciary Committee is holding another hearing, during which congressional investigators will lay out their case for impeaching the President.

The hearing will follow a similar format to pervious impeachment inquiry hearings in both the House Judiciary and House Intelligence committees.

Here's how we're expecting today to play out:

Chair Jerry Nadler and ranking member Doug Collins will each give an opening statement.
Lawyers for the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees will make opening arguments and present the evidence before facing questions from the Judiciary panel. The judiciary committee will get 30 minutes, and the intelligence committee will get 45 minutes.
Nadler will get 45 minutes to ask questions. He can yield to the Democrats' lawyer, if he wants to.
Collins — or the GOP lawyer — will get 45 minutes for questioning.
Each member will get five minutes to ask questions. There are 41 members on the committee.

8:56 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

Democrats on House Judiciary Committee haven’t been told what’s in the articles of impeachment

From CNN's Manu Raju

Democratic members on the House Judiciary Committee still haven’t been told about what is in the articles of impeachment, despite a weekend of marathon meetings prepping for today’s hearing.

They talked about articles more generally in their meetings but have not been told when the committee vote will occur or what’s in the articles — a sign of how closely held this discussion has been between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler and House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff.

8:41 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

The GOP’s signs are already up in the hearing room

From CNN's Manu Raju

House Judiciary Republicans have already put up their signs ahead of today's impeachment inquiry hearing.

One is a quote from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: "We cannot accept a second term for Donald Trump."

The other is a quote from Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond: "My sole focus right now is to make sure that he's not the President next term."

Throughout the impeachment inquiry hearings, Republicans have displayed quotes and talking points on posters in the hearing room.

8:03 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

Here's what happens next in the impeachment inquiry

It's going to be another busy day on Capitol Hill as the House presses forward with the impeachment inquiry.

The House Judiciary Committee will hold its next impeachment hearing at 9 a.m. ET. Member are expected to hear evidence from the staff counsels of both the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees.

After that timing, it gets a little unclear, but here's a general sense of how the impeachment process will work:

Now: The House Judiciary Committee — which has authority to write articles of impeachment — will begin drafting them.
Committee vote: After articles are complete, the committee will vote on whether to refer them to the full House. We're not sure when this will happen, but it could happen sometime this week.
House vote: If they're approved, the articles will go to the House floor, where a simple majority is needed to formally impeach Trump. This vote could happen the week of Dec. 16.

7:27 a.m. ET, December 9, 2019

4 key developments in the impeachment inquiry you need to know

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to work on the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Here what's happened recently:

New report: On Saturday, the House Judiciary Committee released a report ahead of Monday’s impeachment hearing laying out the arguments for impeachment. The report does not accuse President Trump of committing impeachable offenses, but it lays the groundwork for Monday's hearing, where evidence against Trump will be presented by the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, as well as the possible introduction of articles of impeachment next week.
Witnesses requested: The ranking Republican on the committee wants House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden and the anonymous whistleblower to testify, among others. Rep. Doug Collins wrote that the committee should call “each of the witnesses listed above to testify before this Committee to ensure a full evaluation of the facts and to cure the procedural and fairness defects injected into these proceedings by Chairman Schiff.”
Mueller report: Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment inquiry along with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, would not say Sunday whether he supports including information from the Mueller report in articles of impeachment, but seemed to indicate he does not.
White House responds: The White House slammed the impeachment inquiry as "completely baseless" and a "reckless abuse of power" while declining to participate in the probe. In a letter sent by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, he claimed the inquiry "has violated basic principles of due process and fundamental fairness." While the letter did not specifically say the White House would not participate in the inquiry, a White House official told CNN, "The letter communicates that we will not participate in this process."