Americans will hear firsthand today from Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent about how Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to interfere in our election.

House Republicans will do their best to discredit him, but they’ll have a tough time.  Here’s some background on the well-respected career diplomat:

• Kent is a high-ranking State Department official who oversees the U.S relationship with Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

• Kent has served for nearly three decades as a nonpartisan career foreign service officer.

• Kent has served under five presidents — three Republicans and two Democrats.

• Kent has represented the United States as a diplomat in foreign service postings in Warsaw, Kiev, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Bangkok, including serving as deputy chief of mission in Kiev from 2015 to 2018.

Kent’s previous testimony debunked two false Republican talking points: (1) that Trump did not order security assistance to be withheld and (2) that he did not push Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into his political rivals.

• Kent testified that congressionally appropriated security assistance money to Ukraine was put on hold “at the direction of the president.”

• Kent testified that Trump told Ambassador Sondland to get Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into Trump’s political opponent.

Kent provided other critical testimony:

• Kent testified that Pompeo’s letter to the committees inaccurately characterized interactions between the committees and foreign service officers.

• Kent was so concerned that the White House was pursuing “politically motivated prosecutions” that he memorialized his conversations in contemporaneous notes.