Top Democrats vowed on Sunday to begin disclosing key details of their confidential investigation into President Donald Trump, signaling the start of a far more contentious phase of the House’s impeachment inquiry.
“Starting this week, we are going to release these transcripts for people to see and read for themselves,” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We will get to the bottom of this, and then we’ll be able to make a determination at that time whether or not something happened that was treasonous.”
Clyburn (D-S.C.) added that the House would begin holding televised hearings in the next two weeks, signaling that Democratic investigators have secured enough evidence against Trump to proceed with a public rollout — even with the fate of certain witnesses’ testimony this week still uncertain.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) added that investigators planned to interview their final witnesses this week, in what could be the last closed-door hearings of the impeachment inquiry into whether Trump sought to manipulate Ukrainian officials to aid his own 2020 reelection bid.
“Everything else is going to be public,” Engel told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“This week we’ll have the last of the witnesses come in. Then it will be released, the transcripts will be released. Everything is transparent,” Engel said.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Intelligence panel, said she expected all of the transcripts to be released within the next five days.
“They’re going to be very telling to the American people,” Speier said on CBS’ “Face the Nation. “There is no question now whether there was a quid pro quo, and now the question the Republicans are trying to throw out is, ‘Well, was there corrupt intent?'”
The shift to releasing transcripts and holding blockbuster hearings will likely turn the month of November into the most critical point of the House’s probe into Trump — decision time for Democrats on whether they will vote to impeach the president.
Still, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer would not commit his caucus to a timeline for public hearings.
“Time is not constraining us. The truth and the facts are constraining us. We are going to move as soon as the facts and the truth dictate that we have,” the Maryland Democrat said.
“I don’t know what witnesses are going to come forward, what they’re going to say, what evidence will have to be pursued,” Hoyer said.
As they inch closer to a potential vote on impeachment, Democrats have pointed to new polling that shows that a surge in public support, including among independent voters, for their caucus’ fast-moving impeachment probe.
Fifty-three percent of people said they approve of the Democrats’ inquiry, compared to 44 percent of people who disapprove, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday. And in an ominous sign for Trump, 49 percent of people said Trump should be impeached and removed from office — up from 43 percent in the same poll last month. That was the same percentage that supported the impeachment and removal of Trump in a Fox News poll also released Sunday.
“I have been watching the polls all over the country,” Clyburn said on CNN, adding that, “a majority of [independents] seem to be in favor of moving forward, and certainly overwhelmingly Democrats.”
Even as Democrats prepare to go public, investigators continue to battle the White House behind the scenes for access to key witnesses, such as national security aide Robert Blair — who participated in the July 25 call between Trump and the Ukrainian president — who has been blocked from appearing on Capitol Hill on Monday. Energy Secretary Rick Perry also said Friday that he won’t testify, ignoring a congressional subpoena.
Democrats are also working to secure testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton — a potentially key player whom House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Sunday believed had been subpoenaed.
Republicans, meanwhile, struggled to defend Trump on the substance of the allegations — whether there was a “quid-pro-quo” holding up military aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said Trump’s call “was not talking about the 2020 election or political opponents,” though the administration’s partial call record specifically shows that Trump brought up Biden’s son.
“It was about what happened prior in 2016, corruption in Ukraine,” the Louisiana Republican said, “The law requires the president to certify that a country before they get foreign aid is actually taking steps to root out corruption.”
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that she did not know whether the Trump administration held up military aid in exchange for the investigation, and instead stressed that Ukraine had ultimately received the aid.
“I don’t know but I know they got that aid,” Conway said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Here’s what’s absolutely, unimpeachably true: Ukraine has that aid.”
Conway did not answer questions whether the White House would allow officials like Bolton to testify.
“The president has every right to exert executive privilege for a number of administration officials, current or former,” Conway said when asked about Bolton. “We as a White House will continue to exert executive privilege where we feel it is necessary.”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/03/democrats-closed-door-impeachment-probe-064773
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The Article Was Written/Published By: sferris@politico.com (Sarah Ferris)
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