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House to formalize Trump impeachment investigation
WASHINGTON, Oct 31, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Democrats laid out a formal roadmap
for President Donald Trump’s impeachment Thursday as they accumulated more
evidence to support charges that he improperly pushed Ukraine to boost his
own 2020 electoral prospects.
One day after a decorated army officer told Congressional investigators he
witnessed Trump and a senior diplomat pressure Ukraine, three other State
Department officials on Wednesday offered more evidence in testimony that
supported the allegations against the US leader.
And the inquiry testimony set dates for three more witnesses, including
Trump’s estranged former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who would
have had first-hand knowledge of the president’s alleged effort to leverage
military aid to Ukraine in exchange for President Volodymyr Zelensky
investigating his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Even before those interviews take place, Democrats proposed rules to
formalize the investigation and set its next phase — which would have open
evidentiary hearings that Trump or his lawyers could take part in — ahead of
drawing up articles of impeachment.
On Wednesday, the House Rules Committee agreed by a party line vote to put
the resolution up for approval before the full House of Representatives on
Thursday.
“I didn’t run (for office) to impeach the president,” House Rules Committee
Chairman James McGovern said after the vote.
“These are very, very serious matters, and we need a process in place so
people know how we’re going to proceed. I think this is a good transparent
process.”
Earlier in the day, McGovern said, “There is serious evidence that the
president may have violated the constitution.”
– Trump: probe is a ‘witch hunt’ –
Trump blasted the investigation as a “witch hunt” and again claimed there
was no “quid pro quo” in his dealings with Zelensky.
But Democrats said the evidence was only getting stronger that he did push
Ukraine to open investigations into Biden, whose son had ties to a powerful
Ukraine energy company.
MORE/FI/ 1235 hrs
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The impeachment rules will formalize a process Republicans have alleged has
no official grounds, but the Democrats comfortable majority in the House is
likely to ensure its passage.
“The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a President
who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a
foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election,” the leaders of the
impeachment inquiry said late Tuesday. “Following in the footsteps of
previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed
depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand
about the President’s misconduct.”
– Aid hold ‘directed by Trump’ –
On Wednesday, State Department diplomat Christopher Anderson, a former aide
to the US special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, told the inquiry
Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani injected himself into Ukrainian policy
discussions to demand Kiev open investigations that could aid Trump.
Another former Volker aide, Catherine Croft, said in prepared testimony
that Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney ordered military aid to Ukraine
frozen days before a July 25 phone call in which Trump pressured Zelensky to
investigate Biden.
“The only reason given was that the order came at the direction of the
president,” Croft said.
And in separate testimony, John Sullivan, nominated to be US ambassador to
Russia, told a Congressional hearing that Giuliani was part of an effort
designed to smear then-ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who had
reportedly resisted White House efforts to pressure Kiev to investigate
Biden.
“Soliciting investigations into a domestic political opponent, I don’t
think that would be in accord with our values,” Sullivan told the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
– Bolton testimony planned – The inquiry was to hear Thursday from Tim
Morrison, the White House National Security Council’s top Russia expert.
Other witnesses have said Morrison had personal knowledge of the efforts to
use military aid to pressure Ukraine — the quid pro quo that Trump denies.
Morrison unexpectedly stepped down late Wednesday, with no indications how
that might impact his testimony.
“Mr. Morrison has decided to pursue other opportunities — and has been
considering doing so for some time,” a senior administration official said.
Two other White House officials, National Security Council lead attorney
John Eisenberg and one of his deputies, Michael Ellis, are to testify on
November 4.
They would be followed by Bolton on November 7, if he agrees to testify.
His testimony could be explosive, given his strained relationship with Trump
in September when he left the White House, as the Ukraine allegations first
surfaced.
Bolton, other witnesses have said, disagreed strongly with Trump’s tactics
and the involvement of Giuliani in Ukraine policy.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1236 hrs