Dems release Volker and Sondland transcripts

03:07, November 06, 2019

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  US House Democrats release first transcripts from closed-door interviews in impeachment inquiry

  US President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an event on "transparency in Federal guidance and enforcement" in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- US House Democrats on Monday released the first two transcripts from closed-door interviews in an impeachment inquiry into whether President Donald Trump had pressured his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to open investigations into Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden.The move marks a new public phase of the inquiry, which so far goes on behind doors.The transcripts are interviews with former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and top State Department official Michael McKinley, according to local media reports, which said both painted Trump in a negative light."As we move towards this new public phase of the impeachment inquiry, the American public will begin to see for themselves the evidence that the committees have collected," the chairs of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform committees said in a joint statement."With each new interview, we learn more about the Presidents attempt to manipulate the levers of power to his personal political benefit," the statement said."The transcripts of interviews with Ambassadors Yovanovitch and McKinley demonstrate clearly how President Trump approved the removal of a highly respected and effective diplomat based on public falsehoods and smears against Ambassador Yovanovitchs character and her work in support of long-held US foreign policy anticorruption goals," the statement added.Republicans have called for the immediate release of all the transcripts, instead of a select few, since the inquiry started in late September.

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  US House Democrats release more transcripts of closed-door depositions in impeachment inquiry

  In this Oct. 17, 2019, file photo US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, center, arrives for a interview with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Photo: AP)WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- House Democrats on Tuesday released the transcripts of closed-door testimony by two more witnesses in an impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump.The testimony was from Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, the Trump administrations former special envoy to Ukraine, both believed to be key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry over the White Houses alleged efforts to withhold a military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate former US Vice President Joe Biden and his son.Sondland sent House investigators an addition to his testimony on Tuesday, saying that he now recalls a conversation in Warsaw with a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he said that resumption of the military aid likely would not happen until Ukraine had provided a public anti-corruption statement.According to his testimony provided last month, Sondland said Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani "kept repeating" Ukrainian gas firm Burisma, in which Bidens son Hunter Biden had served on the board of directors, on their calls, while adding that the former New York City mayor never mentioned the Bidens.Volker, in his testimony, acknowledged he was out of the loop on matters related to the administrations moves on Ukraine and that he "never got a clear explanation as to what happened" as regard to the withholding of the military aid.The former US special envoy to Ukraine also said it was correct that no "quid pro quo" had been communicated to him.In a tweet on Tuesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the testimony of Sondland a...

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  House Dems announce public impeachment hearings next week

  Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, arrives at a closed door meeting on the ongoing House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. (Photo: AP)House Democrats will launch a major new phase of their impeachment inquiry next week with public hearings that will feature three State Department officials who have testified about their concerns about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment investigation, announced Wednesday that the committee will hear from top Ukraine diplomat William Taylor, career department official George Kent and former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in hearings next Wednesday and Friday.All three have already testified behind closed doors in the first phase of the investigation. Yovanovitch, who was ousted in May at Trump’s direction, told investigators she had been told to “watch my back” and that people were “looking to hurt” her. Both Kent and Taylor testified about their concerns about her ouster as the president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, took a leading role on Ukraine policy.Despite Trump’s daily denials, Schiff said Wednesday that the witnesses will show that “the most important facts are largely not contested” in the inquiry.The Democrats are investigating Trump’s requests for allegedly politically motivated probes by Ukraine as the US withheld military aid from the country. Trump, backed by Giuliani, asked new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July telephone call to probe Trump’s political rival Joe Biden and his family and also to investigate Ukraine’s possible role in the 2016 presidential election.The impeachment investigators are also releasing transcripts of more of the closed-door interviews this week, including Taylor’s transcript on Wednesday.