Latest impeachment developments: Democrats release new transcripts

by The Hill Staff - 11/11/19 3:08 PM ET

Bookmark this page for the latest updates in the impeachment battle.

Read the transcripts released by House Democrats on Monday

Read the testimony of Defense official Laura Cooper here. Read the testimony of State Department officials Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson here and here.

— The Hill Staff

Democrats release testimony from three more officials ahead of open hearings

House Democrats released three new transcripts Monday as they charge closer towards the open hearing phase of their impeachment inquiry later this week.

The release included the transcript of Laura Cooper, top Defense official who oversees Ukraine, who testified about the Trump administration’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine, which Democrats are examining as part of the House investigation into whether President Trump pressed Ukraine to help his own reelection bid in 2020.

And Democrats also released the transcripts from joint depositions with Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson, two former assistants to former U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker.

While all three are more minor witnesses who were called into testify, they offered background information for House investigators as they seek to determine whether Trump used the aid or the promise of a White House meeting as leverage to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open probes into interference in the 2016 presidential election and former Vice President Joe Biden, one of his top 2020 political rivals.

Cooper’s testimony was primarily memorable for a GOP protest that delayed it.

A group of congressional Republicans protesting the closed-door depositions disrupted the scheduled hearing by storming the secure closed space in which the interview was set to be conducted.

— Olivia Beavers

Trump reiterates calls for whistleblower testimony

President Trump is reiterating his calls for the whistleblower who triggered the impeachment inquiry to testify.

{mosads}In a Monday afternoon tweet, Trump said the anonymous whistleblower should testify, as should House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

Where is the Whistleblower who gave so much false information? Must testify along with Schiff and others!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2019

Trump and congressional Republicans have repeatedly called for the whistleblower to testify. The government employee’s attorneys have argued there is no reason for him to testify since his allegations have largely been outrun by testimony from various witnesses interviewed in the probe.

A rough transcript of a July 25 call between Trump and Ukraine’s president also largely matched the whistleblower’s allegations.

— Ian Swanson

House Democrats, ex-Bolton aide ask judge to block Mulvaney from joining lawsuit

House Democrats and former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman separately asked a federal judge on Monday to block President Trump‘s acting chief of staff from intervening in a lawsuit over subpoenas related to the House’s impeachment inquiry.

Trump’s top aide, Mick Mulvaney, had filed a motion in D.C. District Court on Friday seeking to join Kupperman’s lawsuit over a subpoena in order to fight the House Intelligence Committee’s efforts to compel his own testimony.

But Democrats argued that the original lawsuit is moot since they withdrew the subpoena directing Kupperman to testify.

Kupperman also filed a brief on Monday opposing Mulvaney’s motion, arguing that he should be directed to file a separate lawsuit.

The Democrats wrote in their filing that even if the case was not moot at this point, Mulvaney and Kupperman are in very different circumstances.

— Harper Neidig

Tags Adam Schiff Donald Trump Impeachment Joe Biden Kurt Volker Mick Mulvaney