Remember: The White House released a transcript of the July call, but it's only a rough log and not a word-for-word readout. The rough transcript shows Trump repeatedly pushed Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. A lot of news has happened today in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Here's what has happened so far and what we're watching:. Republican Rep. Mark Meadows spoke with reporters about what he heard from State Department official David Hale this morning during his testimony in the impeachment inquiry.
House impeachment investigators have requested testimony from four people today — but we're only expecting one to speak to the committees. David Hale, a high-ranking State Department official, is the only official expected to show up for his testimony today. The other scheduled witnesses are:. Why this matters: The White House strategy so far has been to impede the impeachment investigation as much as possible by refusing subpoenas and calling the process itself illegitimate.
Republican leadership has complained that the impeachment process is unfair and overly restrictive on their ability to question witnesses. House Intel Chair Adam Schiff announced today that public hearings will start next week in the impeachment inquiry.
Schiff said that diplomats Bill Taylor and George Kent will be the first witnesses to testify publicly next Wednesday. Former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch will testify publicly next Friday, Schiff said. Ambassador to the E. Gordon Sondland. He said he became aware of the parallel policy-making paths when working to schedule a phone call with Zelensky in late June.
Taylor said Sondland "cut out" other officials who would normally participate in the call and "requested that the call not be transcribed. And that's confusing. Morrison relayed what Sondland had told Andriy Yermak, a top Zelensky adviser. Yermak that the security assistance money would not come until President Zelensky committed to pursue the Burisma investigation," Taylor testified.
Morrison told me about the Sondland — Yermak conversation. Taylor said he wasn't sure whether Sondland spoke with Pence about his conversation with Yermak. In his own testimony last week, Morrison confirmed the conversation, but said he remembered Sondland saying an announcement by the country's top prosecutor, not Zelensky, would suffice.
Trump has denied that he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden , a frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary race, for political reasons. The alleged pressure campaign, as outlined in a whistleblower complaint filed by a U. Ambassador Taylor's testimony reveals how, through a shadow foreign policy channel, Trump withheld military assistance and a White House meeting from Ukraine until Ukrainian officials agreed to announce investigations to help Trump politically.
Taylor asaid he was concerned when Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, moved to cut out regular interagency participants from the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky. Earlier this week, House investigators released the private impeachment testimonies of several current and former U. Schiff on Wednesday announced a new chapter in the impeachment inquiry, stating public hearings with Taylor, Yovanovitch and Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent will be held next week.
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