Washington - House Democrats will hold a vote this week to
formalise their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump,
according to US news reports Monday.
The resolution will come up for a vote on the floor of the House,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to fellow Democrats. She
said the resolution "affirms the ongoing, existing investigation that
is currently being conducted by our committees as part of this
impeachment inquiry."
She also said it establishes the procedure for future investigative
steps and would "eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump
administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony,
disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the
House of Representatives."
Pelosi made the comments in a letter sent Monday to her House
colleagues. It was quoted by NBC News and other US news outlets. The
vote is to take place Thursday, the reports said.
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham issued a statement saying
the White House wouldn't be able to comment fully until it saw the
text of the letter.
But she added that Pelosi "is finally admitting what the rest of
America already knew - that Democrats were conducting an unauthorized
impeachment proceeding, refusing to give the President due process,
and their secret, shady, closed door depositions are completely and
irreversibly illegitimate."
Republicans for weeks have called for a formal House vote.
"It's been 34 days since Nancy Pelosi unilaterally declared her
impeachment inquiry," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted.
"Today's backtracking is an admission that this process has been
botched from the start."
It’s been 34 days since Nancy Pelosi unilaterally declared her impeachment inquiry.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) October 28, 2019
Today’s backtracking is an admission that this process has been botched from the start.
We will not legitimize the Schiff/Pelosi sham impeachment.
Referring to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, he
said Republicans "will not legitimize the Schiff/Pelosi sham
impeachment."
The White House complained in a letter to top Democrats earlier this
month that it would not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, which
is looking into whether Trump unduly pressured Ukraine for personal
political gain.
Meanwhile, a top White House Ukraine expert is to testify to House
impeachment investigators on Tuesday about a "troubling" phone call
US President Donald Trump had in July with Ukraine's new president
Volodymyr Zelensky, CNN and the New York Times report.
According to a copy of his opening statement obtained by CNN, the
expert, Army Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Vindman, the top Ukraine
expert on the National Security Council, plans to say that he was so
troubled by the Trump-Zelensky phone conversation that he reported
his concerns to a superior.
Vindman is to tell investigators he felt an investigation into former
Vice President Joe Biden and the Ukrainian natural gas company
connected to Biden's son, Hunter, would undermine US national
security, according to CNN.
Trump reportedly pressed Zelensky for such an investigation multiple
times during the July 25 telephone call.
"I was concerned by the call. I did not think it was proper to demand
that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was
worried about the implications for the U.S. government's support of
Ukraine," Vindman plans to tell lawmakers, according to his opening
statement as cited by the US broadcaster.
Vindman registered internal objections twice about Trump and his
inner circle were treating Ukraine, out of what he called a "sense of
duty," he plans to tell the inquiry, according to a draft of his
opening statement obtained by The New York Times.