VP Pence Lands In Mountain View As Trump Impeachment Hearings Begin, Will Tour NASA Ames
MOUNTAIN VIEW (KPIX 5) — Vice President Mike Pence arrived at Moffett Field Wednesday night to an eager crowd on his two-day visit to California.
Pence and his wife, Karen, made their first stop in Southern California where the vice-president attended a Trump victory fundraiser reception. He then made a stop in Monterey, where he attended another fundraiser while his wife toured a local fruit stand and honey shop.
At Moffett Field, Pence and his wife worked the crowd of about 100 who chanted, "Four more years."
Vice-President Mike Pence has arrived. Crowd cheers: USA! USA! pic.twitter.com/RrjHpFtFno
— Maria Cid Medina (@Maria_MedinaTV) November 14, 2019
"I'm excited and it's a privilege to be here," said Sandra Casion, who came to see Pence.
Meanwhile, the first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump had just wrapped up with the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine testifying that one of his staff members overheard the president on call with U.S. Ambassador to the E.U., Gordon Sondland, asking about the "investigations."
The July call came just one day after Mr. Trump is accused of conspiring with Ukraine to influence the 2020 election. President Trump said he couldn't recall the conversation with Sondland, and told reporters he hadn't watched the hearings despite tweeting about the event all day.
On MSNBC, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said, "It's the piling of more evidence that the president was using his office and hijacking our foreign policy to benefit his campaign."
"Is this what we want a president to do, to leverage their power of a White House meeting, security assistance, to involve a foreign government? And if we do, can we ever go back? And I think for most Americans, that's sinking in," Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said on CNN.
Whether Pence listened to the testimony Wednesday is unknown. He stayed far from the media, but worked the crowd taking pictures, shaking hands and signing autographs.
"It was comforting to know that there were people here in the Bay Area who are patriotic and are receiving Vice President Pence respectfully," Taiho Decker said.
Pence is scheduled to tour a NASA facility Thursday and speak to about 200 NASA employees about their role to get astronauts back on the moon by 2024.