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The third day of the House impeachment hearings.

The first witnesses are:

Jennifer Williams, aide to Vice President Mike Pence;

Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who serves as a director on the National Security Council (NSC).

Alexander Vindman said:

“Oleksandr Danylyuk, Zelensky’s former national security adviser, asked him to be the defense minister in Ukraine on a number of occasions — three times around the time of the inauguration.

Vindman calls the request “comical” and says he didn’t leave the door open on the offer. “Every single time I dismissed it,” he said, adding that he notified the chain of command.

Alexander Vindman:

“It is improper for the President of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a US citizen and political opponent. It was also clear that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma, it would be interpreted as a partisan play. This would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine US national security, and advance Russia’s strategic objectives in the region.”

“What I heard was inappropriate.” Lt Col Alexander Vindman, says he was concerned by Trump’s phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky and that it was “improper” for the President to have behaved how he did. Follow live #impeachment updates here: https://t.co/5c5JTXukP2 pic.twitter.com/bH93ATVwQq — Sky News (@SkyNews) November 19, 2019

Adam Schiff:

“How could our diplomats urge Ukraine to refrain from political investigations of its own citizens, if the President of the United States was urging Ukraine to engage in precisely the same kind of corrupt and political investigation of one of our own citizens? ”

Watch Intel Chair Adam Schiff’s opening statement as the House opens its second week of impeachment hearings with Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams https://t.co/zhAhedeDE9 pic.twitter.com/Boa2NqRA2o — POLITICO (@politico) November 19, 2019

Jennifer Williams:

“I found the July 25th phone call unusual because, in contrast to other presidential calls I had observed, it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter,”

Jennifer Williams: “I found the July 25 phone call unusual because, in contrast to other presidential calls I had observed, it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.”pic.twitter.com/4r30Ib7ygM — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 19, 2019

Vindman enters the room: