US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has boiled down the substance of the Democrats impeachment case against President Donald Trump to a simple allegation: Bribery.
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Democrats have been using the Latin phrase "quid pro quo" to describe Trump's actions toward Ukraine, but with the impeachment hearings going public, a more colloquial term may resonate with more Americans.
"Quid pro quo: Bribery," Pelosi said about Trump's July 25 phone call in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a favour.
Trump says the call was perfect. Pelosi said, "It's perfectly wrong. It's bribery."
In the phone conversation, reported by a whistleblower, Trump asked for a "favour," according to an account provided by the White House. He wanted an investigation of Democrat 2020 rival Joe Biden. Later it was revealed that at the time the administration was withholding military aid from Ukraine.
The House has opened its historic hearings to remove the president, launching a political battle for public opinion that will further test the nation in one of the most polarising eras of modern times.
Democrats and Republicans are hardening their messages to voters, who are deeply entrenched in two camps.
Trump continued to assail the proceedings as "a hoax" on Thursday, and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy dismissed the witness testimony as hearsay, at best second-hand information.
During Wednesday's hearing, a diplomat testified that another State Department witness overheard Trump asking about Ukraine investigations the day after his phone call with Kiev.
On Thursday, a second US Embassy official also reported overhearing Trump's conversation.
On Friday, Americans will hear from Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump recalled as the US ambassador to Ukraine, after what one State Department official has called a "campaign of lies" against her by the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Australian Associated Press