Reports Go to Judiciary Panel Late This Week: Impeachment Update

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Billy House
Written by

Billy House

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(Bloomberg) -- The House Judiciary Committee plans a hearing Wednesday to discuss the constitutional grounds for impeachment as the next step of the inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Here are the latest developments:

Reports Go to Judiciary Panel Late This Week (7:10 p.m.)

A House Intelligence official says the committee won't send impeachment inquiry reports by the Democratic majority and the Republican minority to the Judiciary Committee in time for that panel's first public hearing on Wednesday.

GOP members of the Intelligence Committee on Monday already publicly released their findings from the panel's two months of interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence.

Intelligence members are meeting on Monday to review the Democrats' report and will meet again Tuesday to vote on it, the official said.

Democrats Announce Witnesses for Hearing (4:15 p.m.)

The House Judiciary Committee will hear on Wednesday from Harvard law professor Noah Feldman, Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.

The first three are being called to testify by Democrats, while Turley has been called by the committee's Republican members. Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.

GOP Says Democrats Didn't Prove Offenses (3:30 p.m.)

A Republican document contends the Democratic-led House investigation of Trump failed to establish any impeachable offenses, instead painting a picture of “unelected bureaucrats” disagreeing with the president's style, world view and foreign policy decisions.

Both the GOP report and the findings of the Democratic majority are expected to be sent to the Judiciary Committee ahead of that panel's first public impeachment hearing on Wednesday.

The Republican document asserts the Democrats' impeachment case rests “almost entirely on hearsay, presumption and emotion” to arrive at a “predetermined outcome.” It says Trump was justified in citing corruption as a reason to hesitate on meeting with Ukraine's new president and to withhold security assistance that had already been approved by Congress.

“Where there are ambiguous facts, the Democrats interpret them in a light most unfavorable to the president,” Republicans wrote. “For Democrats, impeachment is a tool for settling political scores and re-litigating election results with which they disagreed.”

Zelenskiy Disputes U.S. Claims of Corruption (10:09 a.m.)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said claims by some in the U.S. that his country is corrupt harm its ability to get investments from the rest of the world.

“The United States of America is a signal, for the world, for everyone,” Zelenskiy said in an interview, Time magazine reported. “When America says, for instance, that Ukraine is a corrupt country, that is the hardest of signals.”

“For me it's very important for the United States, with all they can do for us, for them really to understand that we are a different country, that we are different people,” Zelenskiy said, according to Time, which was among four publications that interviewed Ukraine's leader.

He said he never discussed with Trump any connection between a delay in U.S military aid and Trump's request for investigations.

“I never talked to the president from the position of a quid pro quo,” Zelenskiy said. “If you're our strategic partner, then you can't go blocking anything for us. I think that's just about fairness. It's not about a quid pro quo.”

German news magazine Der Spiegel, which also was involved in the interview, reported that Zelenskiy said he didn't speak with Trump “in such a way, like, ‘you give me this, I give you that.'”

Later, Trump wrote on Twitter: “The President of Ukraine has just again announced that President Trump has done nothing wrong with respect to Ukraine and our interactions or calls.”

Trump Attacks Democrats' Plan for Hearing (9:32 a.m.)

Trump attacked Democrats' plans for a House Judiciary Committee hearing that will examine whether the president's actions detailed in evidence gathered so far warrant articles of impeachment.

“The Do Nothing Democrats get 3 Constitutional lawyers for their Impeachment hoax (they will need them!), the Republicans get one,” Trump said in a tweet on Monday, referring to witnesses to be called at the hearing. “Oh, that sounds fair!”

Trump's lawyer on Sunday told the Judiciary panel the White House wouldn't take part in the panel's first impeachment hearing on Wednesday, but kept open the possibility he would be represented at future sessions.

The panel plans to explain the constitutional framework for impeachment and the term “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Catch Up on Impeachment Coverage

House to Open Next Trump Impeachment Phase With Dec. 4 Hearing

House Panel to Submit Impeachment Report Soon After Thanksgiving

Democrats Leave Trump in Suspense on Where Impeachment Goes Next

Diplomats Detail Pressure on Ukraine to Investigate Biden Family

Defense Official Says Ukraine Was Aware of Aid Hold in July

Key Events

Trump and his attorney are invited to participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings. The panel will decide whether to write articles of impeachment and forward them to the full House for a vote.
Gordon Sondland's transcript is here and here; Kurt Volker's transcript is here and here. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch's transcript is here and here; the transcript of Michael McKinley, former senior adviser to the secretary of State, is here. The transcript of Holmes, a Foreign Service officer in Kyiv, is here.
The transcript of William Taylor, the top U.S. envoy to Ukraine, is here and here. State Department official George Kent's testimony is here and here. Testimony by Alexander Vindman can be found here, and the Hill transcript is here. Laura Cooper's transcript is here; Christopher Anderson's is here and Catherine Croft's is here. Jennifer Williams' transcript is here and Timothy Morrison's is here. Philip Reeker transcript is here. Mark Sandy's is here.