President Trump applauds Rep. Mike Turner questioning in tweet

President Donald Trump gave Congressman Mike Turner a public shout out on Twitter for Turner’s questioning of witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.

Turner, R-Dayton, serves on the House Intelligence Committee, which is holding marathon hearings on whether Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine are grounds for impeachment.

“It really only comes down to what did the president of the United States intend and what did he say and what did the Ukrainians understand or hear,” Turner said while questioning diplomat Kurt Volker on Tuesday.

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Volker, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and former special envoy to Ukraine, had conversations with both President Trump and the Ukrainians, Turner said. During questioning, Volker told Turner that the president raised valid concerns about Ukraine, didn’t say he was holding up military aid in exchange for investigations of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, and the Ukrainians didn’t say they understood the president was holding up funding or meetings in exchange for investigations.

“Pretty much, Ambassador Volker, you took apart their entire case,” Turner said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted out a clip of the exchange and the president re-tweeted it.

Hearings continue today with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland giving testimony.

Before the hearings began last week, Turner told the Dayton Daily News: “I do not believe what the president did is okay. I’ve told the president directly that I think people of Ohio don’t want to hear the president on the phone talking to another president of another country about people who are his opponents. But I certainly haven’t seen anything that rises to the level of impeachment.”

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