After one day of TV hearings, the impeachment battle lines remain the same

Thirty-eight minutes into his opening statement during Wednesday's impeachment hearing, Amb. Bill Taylor, the career foreign service officer and top US diplomat to Ukraine, paused, took a drink of water, and delivered the day's biggest bombshell.

Less than a week earlier, Taylor learned that a member of his staff had overheard President Donald Trump discussing "the investigations" in Ukraine while on the phone with EU ambassador Gordon Sondland. That newly disclosed call took place on July 26, one day after the now infamous call between Trump and new Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

"The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about 'the investigations.' Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward," Taylor testified.

He also said that after the call, the staffer asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine. Sondland apparently told the staffer that Trump "cares more about the investigations" of Joe Biden.

To Democrats, the news was a revelation, one that directly ties the President to the proposed quid pro quo with the Ukrainians. But for Republicans, Taylor's story was just more of the same -- a second-hand account of conversations about other conversations that prove nothing except that the President's opponents will use anything to get rid of him.

The divergent reactions illustrate the gaping divide between Republicans and Democrats on impeachment. Democrats crowed over how clear the evidence is, while Republicans were left wondering what all the fuss is about.

After the first day of televised impeachment testimony, the political battle lines had not moved an inch.