Republicans are using massive signs to defend Trump so the cameras can catch them in the televised impeachment hearings

Loren Elliot/Reuters

Ranking member Devin Nunes passes a sign as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland testifies at a House Intelligence Committee hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump

• Over the past few weeks of impeachment hearings, dozens of current and former Trump administration officials have publicly appeared to testify in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
• As millions of Americans are tuning in to hear one witness after another testify against Trump, Republicans are trying to take back control of the narrative with huge poster boards.
• In Thursday's hearing of the testimony of Fiona Hill and David Holmes, Republicans unveiled a new sign accusing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff of violating House rules.
• Follow along our live coverage of the hearing here.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Over the past few weeks of impeachment hearings, dozens of current and former Trump administration officials have publicly appeared before the House Intelligence Committee to testify in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The impeachment inquiry all started with an anonymous whistleblower complaint lodged by a member of the intelligence community.

The whistleblower said that in a series of events, including a now-infamous a July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Trump administration withheld a $400 million military aid package and pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, the latter of whom served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian oil-and-gas company, 

The whistleblower's complaint has been corroborated by the White House's summary notes of the July 25 call, White House officials themselves, and the sworn testimony of several career diplomatic and national-security officials.

Multiple diplomats have now testified under oath that the Trump administration explicitly conditioned lifting the hold of the military aid to Ukraine on Zelensky publicly announcing investigations into Burisma and a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election to benefit Hillary Clinton.

But as millions of Americans are tuning in to hear one witness after another testify against Trump, Republicans are trying to take back control of the narrative with huge poster boards behind their seats in the committee room. 

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

As part of their defense, Republicans have hammered on the identity of the whistleblower and used the claim that the whistleblower is biased against Trump and even working in coordination with the Democrats as a way of discrediting the impeachment inquiry altogether.

The whistleblower's identity is still unknown, but they have been identified in reports as a CIA officer previously detailed to the White House.

In the sign on the right, Republicans are referring to a report from October published in The New York Times revealing that before they filed their complaint with the Intelligence Community's inspector general, the whistleblower sought guidance from an Intelligence Committee aide as to how to lawfully proceed with their complaint.

While Schiff himself did not communicate with the whistleblower and there is no evidence he knows their identity, House Republicans have seized on The New York Times story in an attempt to discredit the whistle

Scott J. Applewhite/AP

The sign on the left is a quote from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which Republicans say decisively proves that the Democrats are engaged in a coup trying to override the will of the people and unjustly remove Trump from office.

The Republicans have argued that the current impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because Democrats are looking for any reason to target Trump and have tried to impeach him since he arrived in office. They also say that impeachment is unnecessary so close to a presidential election.

But Democrats contend that the inquiry is necessary given the fact that Trump is specifically accused of interfering in the 2020 election itself. 

Joshua Roberts/Reuters

An aide places signs behinds Republican committee member seats during the House Intelligence Committee hearing featuring witness Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, as part of the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump

The sign on the left is a quote from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko, which Republicans hope will counteract the slew of career diplomats and national security officials who have testified under oath that the Trump administration explicitly traded lifting the hold on the security assistance 

In the sign on the right, Republicans are hoping to emphasize the extent to which the Trump administration has supported Ukraine and highlight that the US has given more aid to Ukraine under Trump compared to the administration of President Barack Obama. 

In Thursday's hearing of the testimony of Fiona Hill and David Holmes, Republicans unveiled a new sign accusing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff of violating House rules.

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