Busy week for Dems as impeachment inquiry into Trump heats up

The United States Congress is returning from a two-week recess tomorrow, but some lawmakers barely left Washington.

Three House committees investigating impeachment worked through the break, issuing multiple subpoenas and holding depositions with State Department officials relevant to the inquiry. Democrats are investigating President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and exploring whether he abused his office by seeking dirt from a foreign country on former Vice-President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender for the 2020 White House nomination and Trump’s political rival.

That work will intensify when Congress gets back. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants the committees to work “expeditiously” as Democrats gather evidence and prepare to make a final decision on whether to vote to impeach the President.

The impeachment probe was sparked by a whistleblower who revealed that Trump asked Ukraine’s new President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on a July telephone call to investigate Biden’s family and Ukraine’s role of in the 2016 election that put Trump in office. The calls to investigate Joe Biden and son Hunter have come without evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden, in either country.

Trump has defended his conduct as “perfect” and said he will refuse to comply with the inquiry.

Flurry of subpoenas and depositions

Despite Trump’s assertions that he won’t co-operate, some members of his Administration are participating anyway. Staff and lawmakers from the House Intelligence Committee, the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee have called in several State Department witnesses.

They have already heard from two: Kurt Volker, a former envoy to

Ukraine, and Marie Yovanovitch, a former ambassador to Ukraine. Fiona Hill, a former White House adviser who focused on Russia, was expected to appear in private today, with plans for Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, to follow on Friday. The panels have subpoenaed or requested documents from the White House, the Defence Department, the White House Office of Management and Budget, VicePresident Mike Pence, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and two Giuliani associates. The deadlines for most of those requests are this coming week.

The whistleblower

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Democrat Adam Schiff, yesterday suggested that the committee may not need to hear from the whistleblower after weeks of negotiations to obtain the person’s testimony. The talks have centred on how to protect the whistleblower, who is publicly unknown. Democrats stick to their strategy Pelosi has been unflappable while Republicans have criticised her for declining to hold a vote to authorise the impeachment inquiry. The Constitution doesn’t require one, but the House held such votes during the impeachment investigations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

Court battles

Democrats had a victory on Saturday when a federal appeals court ruled that Trump’s financial records must be turned over to the House. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said lawmakers should get the documents they have subpoenaed from the accounting firm Mazars USA, which has provided services to the President.

Republicans protest

Republicans have focused their ire on Democrats and defended the President. They are expected to step up those efforts in the coming weeks.