The detail about the overheard phone conversation was one of a small number of new details to emerge from Democrats' first open hearing in their impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
Mostly, the five hour hearing emphasized aspects of the narrative about the Ukraine affair that already have emerged from closed-door depositions.
Republicans used their portions of the hearing to underscore what they called the witnesses' indirect knowledge about the Ukraine affair and, more broadly, defend Trump's actions this from this year.
William Taylor, the acting boss of the U.S. diplomatic mission in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, added the detail about the overheard conversation to earlier testimony he gave House investigators.
Taylor said a diplomatic staffer told him about being with Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, when Sondland got a phone call from Trump.
The staffer "could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about 'the investigations,' " Taylor said.
Continued Taylor: "Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward." Further, Sondland told the staffer "that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for."
An attorney for Sondland declined to comment on Taylor's testimony, saying that the ambassador would tell his own story to Congress when he appears Nov. 20.
The Ukraine affair
In exchange for investigations, witnesses have said, Trump was prepared to meet in person with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and sustain financial assistance — appropriated by Congress — that Washington had been providing to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in 2014.
The White House froze Ukraine's aid for a period of weeks this year and then released it. Although Zelenskiy was close to booking a CNN interview in September, he never made the public commitment that witnesses have said Trump wanted.
Republicans argue this shows there was no inappropriate exchange and say the impeachment process has been a "sham."
Plus the case is based on hearsay, they argue, because few witnesses heard directly from Trump and — for some supporters — Trump's actions were legitimate or, at very least, not impeachable.
Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., also said Democrats have lost all credibility following former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and called their impeachment inquiry a "carefully orchestrated media smear campaign."
"This spectacle is doing great damage to our country," he said. "It's nothing more than an impeachment process in search of a crime."
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Democrats are squandering bandwidth they should be using on more important priorities.
@PressSec This sham hearing is not only boring, it is a colossal waste of taxpayer time & money. Congress should be working on passing USMCA, funding our govt & military, working on reduced drug pricing & so much more. @realDonaldTrump is working right now-the dems should follow his lead!
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