After the call ended, Sondland told Holmes that Trump "did not give a s--t about Ukraine" and only cared about the "big stuff," like the Biden investigation, according to Holmes' account.

The riveting testimony further tied Trump to the effort to squeeze Zelensky and hurt Biden's campaign. It was a startling twist, because few had ever heard of Holmes when the inquiry began. By the end of the public hearings, his face was plastered all over national television.

Real-time witness intimidation?

Trump scored an own-goal during one of the hearings thanks to his own tweeting.

"Well, it's very intimidating," Yovanovitch said, during the hearing, about the Trump tweet. "I can't speak to what the President is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating."

The text of the tweet could hardly justify a criminal charge for witness tampering, but Democrats pounced nonetheless. Some top Democrats suggested they might include Trump's attacks against Yovanovitch in an article of impeachment for obstructing Congressional proceedings.

Trump ally implicated nearly 'everyone'

A lot can change between a closed-door deposition and a nationally televised hearing. That was true for Sondland, the neophyte diplomat who donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration.

Sondland was initially viewed by many as a Trump-friendly witness who might stick to the party line, even though he did defy State Department orders and show up for a deposition.

"Everyone was in the loop," Sondland said repeatedly, describing how he discussed the scheme with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. All three top officials have disputed parts of Sondland's sworn testimony.

These top officials all ignored subpoenas, so it's unlikely they'll ever be forced to give these denials under oath. But Sondland's testimony put them in the hot seat more than ever before.

Ukraine knew early about aid freeze

One of the lesser-watched impeachment hearings brought a bombshell of its own.

The revelation blew a hole in the GOP defense that Ukraine couldn't have been pressured by Trump because they only learned from news reports in late August about the frozen assistance.

It wasn't entirely clear from Cooper's testimony just how much the Ukrainians knew. But Cooper said her staff got emails from a Ukrainian official on the day of Trump's call with Zelensky, and they wanted to know, "what is going on with Ukrainian security assistance?" she recalled.

Budget officials quit amid frustration

Sandy, a senior career official at the Office of Management and Budget, described how one of Trump's political appointees took responsibility for the Ukraine portfolio once he started raising concerns. Until that point, Sandy had signed the paperwork officially imposing the delays.

Not only that, but Sandy also testified that he was part of a group of career officials who sent a memo recommending that the freeze be lifted because it was hurting US national security. This helps Democrats make their case that Trump undermined US interests for personal benefit.

He also testified that two OMB officials quit amid the turmoil over the Ukraine funding, which included unaddressed concerns that the holdup could have been illegal. Sandy couldn't say for sure that the two officials resigned solely because of the Ukraine affair, but he said both officials were frustrated by the situation and that they made their disagreements known before quitting.

The officials were not named in the transcript of Sandy's deposition. A senior Trump administration official disputed his testimony and said nobody quid because of the aid holdup.