In closed-door testimony today, a National Security Council aide corroborated a key fact when he confirmed that Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, said that a package of military assistance for Ukraine would not be released until the country committed to investigating the Bidens.

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What today’s vote means

I asked Julie Davis, our congressional editor, about the history this resolution made — and what it says about the next phase of the investigation.

Julie, in the most basic sense, why was the vote meaningful?

It was only the third time in modern history the House has had a roll-call vote on an impeachment inquiry. But this was different than the previous two since it wasn’t to authorize the inquiry. It was to set rules for an ongoing one.

How did we get to today?

It wasn’t that long ago that Democrats were questioning the politics and utility of a vote like this, given the large probability that Senate Republicans will acquit Mr. Trump if the House impeaches him. And Republicans recognized that was the case, and felt quite confident that the political will behind something like this was not there. But that’s not the case today, if you look at the polls, which show majorities of Americans favoring the inquiry.

What did today’s vote tell us about where Republicans stand?

They’re still in a place politically where they’re completely unwilling to break with Mr. Trump. It doesn’t seem at the moment like there’s any substantive development that could shake that. But today’s resolution made it clear that public hearings will be much different than the private interviews that have been happening for weeks.