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Sep 30, 2019
US Politics: U.S. House impeachment inquiry to intensify; Trump remains defiant
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into
President Donald Trump over his request that a foreign power investigate
a domestic political rival is set to intensify this week with testimony
due from witnesses concerning allegations made by a whistleblower
within the U.S. intelligence community.
FILE
PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump spaeks to reporters after arriving
aboard Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S. September 26,
2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
The
whistleblower’s complaint cited a July 25 telephone call in which Trump
asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden,
one of the leading Democratic candidates seeking to challenge him in
2020, and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas
company.
Democrats have accused Trump of pressuring a vulnerable
U.S. ally to get dirt on a political rival for personal political gain.
Trump’s July 25 phone call came after he froze nearly $400 million in
aid intended to help Ukraine deal with an insurgency by Russian-backed
separatists in the eastern part of the country. The aid was later
provided.
The House Intelligence Committee is leading the
impeachment inquiry. The inquiry in the Democratic-led House could lead
to approval of articles of impeachment against the Republican president
and a subsequent trial in the Republican-led Senate on whether to remove
Trump from office.
Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said on Sunday he expects the whistleblower to appear before the panel very soon.
While
Congress is on a two-week recess, members of the committee will return
to the U.S. Capitol this week to carry out an investigation that is
likely to produce new subpoenas for documents and other material.
The
committee is scheduled to hold a closed-door hearing on Friday with the
intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, who
concluded that the whistleblower complaint was of urgent concern and
appeared credible.
House investigators are set to take the first witness testimony from two people mentioned in the whistleblower’s complaint.
On
Wednesday, three House committees - Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and
Oversight - are due to get a deposition from former U.S. ambassador to
Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump labeled “bad news” during his call
with Zelenskiy.
On Thursday, the committees are set to get a
deposition from Trump’s former special representative for Ukraine, Kurt
Volker, who resigned last week after the whistleblower complaint named
him as one of two U.S. diplomats who followed up with Ukrainian
officials a day after Trump’s call to Zelenskiy.
The
whistleblower has not been publicly identified. Trump, in a series of
Twitter posts on Sunday evening, said he wanted to “meet” the
whistleblower, who he called “my accuser,” as well as “the person who
illegally gave this information” to the whistleblower.
“Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!” Trump wrote.
Some House Democrats said articles of impeachment against Trump could move to the House floor as soon as next month.
“In
my mind, it’s several weeks,” House Judiciary Committee member David
Cicilline told reporters last week. “He has already admitted that he
contacted a foreign leader and discussed with him ginning up a fake
story about one of his political opponents.”
Last Friday, the
House Foreign Affairs Committee issued a subpoena to Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo for documents related to the Ukraine scandal. House
Democrats also have sought material from the White House and Justice
Department.
Schiff said any effort by Trump to stonewall the probe could be used to impeach him for obstructing Congress.
Trump
has withstood repeated scandals since taking office in 2017. House
Democrats considered, but never moved ahead with, pursuing articles of
impeachment over Trump’s actions relating to Russian interference in the
2016 U.S. election aimed at boosting his candidacy.
The United States has been giving military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Will Dunham
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