WASHINGTON — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment inquiry (all times local):
1:25 p.m.
The lead House investigator is predicting the whistleblower who sparked impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump will testify “very soon.”
Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said on multiple Sunday shows that the panel and the whistleblower’s lawyers are still working out their clearances and how to keep the person’s identity secret.
The person’s testimony is at the heart of a formal inquiry into whether Trump abused his office when he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate Democrat Joe Biden’s family. The White House released a rough transcript of the July 25th call and made public the whistleblower’s complaint. Trump has said he did nothing wrong, but the material sparked new calls for his impeachment and a process that could generate a vote by Thanksgiving.
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11 a.m.
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer says he’d only co-operate with the House impeachment inquiry if his client agreed.
Central to the investigation is the effort by lawyer Rudy Giuliani (joo-lee-AH’-nee) to have Ukraine conduct a corruption probe into Joe Biden and his son’s dealings with a Ukrainian energy company. Trump echoed that request in a July call with Ukraine’s president.
The House Intelligence Committee is leading the inquiry, and Giuliani thinks the chairman, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, “has already prejudged” whether Trump linked U.S. aid to Ukraine in exchange for the probe. Giuliani tells ABC’s “This Week” that “I wouldn’t co-operate” with Schiff, but if Trump “decides that he wants me to testify, of course I’ll testify.”
Schiff says he hasn’t decided whether he wants to hear from Giuliani.
The Associated Press
