US House to hold vote to formalise Trump impeachment inquiry

President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington. Picture: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington. Picture: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Published Oct 29, 2019

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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."

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.

dpa

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