WITH EVERY STEP CLOSER TO KNOWING:

[T]he transcripts show Republican members using their time in depositions erratically, trying to throw up various process-related roadblocks and working the refs. Representative Scott Perry asked Yovanovitch about the intelligence practice of "unmasking" and whether her staff was involved, puzzling the ambassador. In one peculiar exchange, Mark Meadows asked Yovanovitch where her nickname, Masha--a common Russian nickname for Maria--comes from.

Finally, the release of the testimony vindicates the Democratic claim that witnesses ought to be heard in private to avoid coordinating testimony. (This was, in point of fact, Intelligence Committee Republicans' claim, under former Chairman Trey Gowdy, before it was Democrats'.) Sondland told investigators he'd conferred with Energy Secretary Rick Perry to "refresh [his] memory," yet Sondland submitted his addendum, including the explosive quid pro quo claim, only after other witnesses contradicted his claims.

The Trumposphere often operates on an esoteric argument that if only all the facts were revealed, the totality of the evidence would clearly show that the president was innocent and that his detractors are the guilty ones. A version of this faith animated the Republican demand for full transcripts. Now that the transcripts are being released and aren't yielding exoneration, it should--but won't--prompt a reevaluation of this esotericism.

Instead, GOP leaders have simply swapped out their talking points.

"I don't know that you need all the transcripts," Representative Jim Jordan said Monday. "Like I've said, the facts have always been there, the facts have been clear from the get-go."

The problem for Trump is that Jordan is probably right.

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