Committees release first transcripts in Trump impeachment inquiry
The latest news on the impeachment inquiry
- House Democrats have released the transcripts of closed-door testimony by the former ambassador to Ukraine and a former top State Department official.
- House Republican leaders are considering temporarily assigning Representative Jim Jordan to the Intelligence Committee for public impeachment hearings.
- The Justice Department concluded senior White House advisers have "absolute immunity" from congressional subpoenas for their testimony, according to a letter obtained by CBS News.
- Last week, the House voted to approve a resolution establishing the procedures for the impeachment inquiry's next phase, laying out the framework for public hearings.
Washington -- The House committees spearheading the impeachment inquiry released on Monday the first transcripts of closed-door depositions in the intensifying probe into President Trump's dealings with Ukraine.
The Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs panels released transcripts of hours-long hearings they held with former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and Michael McKinley, a former top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Yovanovitch and McKinley are just two of several current and former Trump administration officials who been summoned to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry, which was formalized through a House resolution last week. Yovanovitch was recalled early from her post in the spring, and McKinley resigned in part over the lack of support for her among State Department officials.
The top Democrats on the committees leading the inquiry said the testimony of both diplomats highlighted the "contamination" of American foreign policy by allies of the president who sought to create an "irregular back channel" to accomplish Mr. Trump's personal and political objectives.
"As we move towards this new public phase of the impeachment inquiry, the American public will begin to see for themselves the evidence that the committees have collected," Representatives Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Carolyn Maloney said in a statement. "With each new interview, we learn more about the President's attempt to manipulate the levers of power to his personal political benefit."
The lawmakers said the testimony shows the president and his top aides relied on "public falsehoods and smears" to oust Yovanovitch from her post in Ukraine earlier this year.
Although there were efforts to mount public support for Yovanovitch within the diplomatic community, the committee chairs said the released testimonies showed that senior State Department officials feared that the president could've stepped in and undermined their efforts.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has concluded that high-level presidential advisers have "absolute immunity" from congressional subpoenas for their testimony, according to a letter obtained by CBS News' Paula Reid.
In the letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel said John Eisenberg, a White House attorney who was scheduled to be deposed Monday morning, was under no obligation to comply with the subpoena.
"You have asked whether the Committee may compel Mr. Eisenberg to testify," Engel wrote in the letter, dated November 3. "We conclude that he is absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony in his capacity as a senior adviser to the President."
Republicans consider moving Jordan to Intel Committee for public hearings
6:11 p.m.: As the impeachment inquiry enters its public phase, top Republicans in the House are weighing whether to temporarily assign Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the panel that will conduct the initial public hearings. Discussions about adding Jordan to the committee are "active and serious," a senior Republican involved in the process told CBS News.
Jordan, currently the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and an outspoken defender of the president, has essentially led Republican efforts in the closed-door impeachment proceedings thus far, where three committees have been able to participate. His top investigator, Steve Castor, has conducted the bulk of witness questioning.
If Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy were to temporarily assign Jordan to the Intelligence Committee, he would have to make room for him by removing a current member. The move would also undermine Devin Nunes, the committee's top Republican. McCarthy has sole discretion over Intelligence Committee assignments.
Read the full story here.
Trump in Kentucky for campaign rally
5:10 p.m.: The president is Lexington, Kentucky, for a campaign rally. He's scheduled to go on stage at 7 p.m., and you can watch live here.
He spoke to reporters prior to leaving the White House, reiterating his criticism of the whistleblower and denouncing the impeachment investigation.
Sondland and Volker transcripts to be released Tuesday, Schiff says
2:05 p.m.: The transcripts of testimony by two other key officials will be released Tuesday, Schiff said.
The committees will release the testimony of Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the E.U., and Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine. Both featured prominently in messages released by the committees in October, and were central to efforts to pressure Ukraine to open investigations. -- Stefan Becket
Schiff says White House "not going to delay" probe by blocking witnesses
12:57 p.m.: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff criticized the White House for instructing current White House officials to refuse congressional subpoenas to testify before the committees on Monday.
"That would allow these witnesses and the White House to succeed in their goal, which is to delay, deny, obstruct," Schiff said on Capitol Hill. Two officials failed to appear for scheduled depositions Monday morning, and two others are expected to decline to appear in the afternoon.
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that top White House aides have "absolute immunity" from congressional subpoenas, an assertion Schiff rejected: "There's no such thing as 'absolute immunity.'"
Some witnesses refused to testify on the basis that their agency's lawyers are not allowed in the hearing room. Schiff said doing so would violate House rules governing depositions.
Schiff spoke to reporters shortly after his committee released the first transcripts from the closed-door impeachment proceedings. He said the transcripts of Yovanovitch and McKinley's testimonies showed that Republicans on the impeachment committees had equal opportunity to ask witnesses questions.
The Democratic chairman also criticized Republicans for their shifting justifications for opposing the impeachment inquiry, citing last week's vote in the full House to establish the inquiry's ground rules. He accused Republican members of being hypocrites, since previous investigations under Republican majorities, like the Benghazi investigation, featured closed-door testimony from witnesses without agency lawyers present.
"If they join the president's objections, they do so in a fashion that is directly contradictory to their practices when they were in the majority," Schiff said. -- Caroline Cournoyer
McKinley: Lack of support for Yovanovitch was "baffling"
12:50 p.m.: McKinley testified he resigned from his post after a "puzzling and baffling" lack of support for the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, according to the transcript.
In his appearance before the committees on October 16, 2019, McKinley told lawmakers he resigned after 37 years in foreign service over the State Department's treatment of Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled from her post earlier this year, and other diplomats. He testified about his failed attempts to encourage Pompeo to release a strong statement of support for the former ambassador in response to Mr. Trump's disparaging remarks about her.
According to the summary of Mr. Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the president said of Yovanovitch, "The former ambassador from the United States, the woman was bad news and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news so I just want to let you know that," according to the White House summary.
The president told Zelensky the ambassador was "going to go through some things."
Read more here.
Yovanovitch told lawmakers Giuliani allied with Ukrainian prosecutor to oust her
12:45 p.m.: Yovanovitch testified that Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, worked to have her removed from her post.
According to a transcript of her testimony on October 11 released on Monday, Yovanovitch testified she learned in late 2018 that Giuliani and former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko had plans to "do things, including to me." She said Lutsenko and Giuliani had several meetings, and Lutsenko sought to remove her in retribution for the embassy's efforts to rid the prosecutor general's office of corruption.
She and other State Department officials had concerns about Giuliani's role in Ukraine, according to her testimony, but they did not feel they could stop Giuliani's efforts. Giuliani spread rumors about Yovanovitch, including allegations she opposed Mr. Trump and was standing in the way of investigations into alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections and the Bidens.
Read more here.
Committees release transcripts of McKinley and Yovanovitch depositions
11:55 a.m.: The committees leading the impeachment inquiry released transcripts of their interviews with Yovanovitch and McKinley.
Read the highlights of their testimonies here:
Justice Department says White House advisers have "absolute immunity" from subpoenas
10:01 a.m.: The Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel said in a letter to the White House counsel that Trump advisers have "absolute immunity" from congressional subpoenas compelling their testimony in the impeachment probe.
In a letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone obtained by CBS News, Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel said John Eisenberg, a White House attorney who was scheduled to be deposed Monday morning, was under no obligation to comply with the subpoena.
"You have asked whether the Committee may compel Mr. Eisenberg to testify," Engel wrote in the letter, dated November 3. "We conclude that he is absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony in his capacity as a senior adviser to the President."
Engel argued that since the president's closest advisers "serve as his alter egos," compelling their testimony would "undercut the 'independence and autonomy' of the Presidency."
Cipollone subsequently wrote to William Burck, an attorney for Eisenberg, to inform him of the Justice Department's guidance and to tell him the president "directs Mr. Eisenberg not to appear at the Committees deposition."
Burck cited both letters in his own letter to the committee chairs Monday, saying his client "has no other option that is consistent with his legal and ethical obligations except to follow the direction of his client and employer, the President of the United States."
Burck said Eisenberg would comply with any decision by a federal judge who is currently considering whether Congress can compel White House officials to testify. -- Paula Reid
White House officials skip depositions despite subpoenas
9:45 a.m.: Two White House officials scheduled to testify before the House committees leading the impeachment probe did not show for their depositions on Monday morning. Another confirmed he won't appear as scheduled in the afternoon.
The officials were issued subpoenas for their testimony, according to an official working on the impeachment inquiry.
John Eisenberg, a National Security Council lawyer, and Robert Blair, a top aide to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, did not appear on Capitol Hill for their 9 a.m. depositions. An attorney for Michael Ellis, a White House lawyer, confirmed his client will also not appear for testimony scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Brian McCormack, an official in the White House budget office, is also expected to skip a deposition scheduled for later in the day.
The committees said the no-shows on Monday were part of "baseless procedural challenges" the White House has mounted to derail the impeachment inquiry. -- Paula Reid and Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Trump rejects offer of written answers from whistleblower
8:00 a.m.: Without citing or providing any evidence, the president again accused the whistleblower who denounced his dealings with the Ukrainian government of including "false information" in his complaint.
Mr. Trump also called on the whistleblower to testify before Congress, echoing a demand made by his Republican allies in Congress.
"He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable!" the president wrote on Twitter, seeming to reject an offer over the weekend by the whistleblower's counsel.
CBS News was the first to report on Sunday that Mark Zaid, one of the whistleblower's lawyers, offered Republican lawmakers the opportunity to submit written questions to their client without clearing them through the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee. -- Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Read more here.
Speier says testimony will be "very telling"
6:00 a.m.: Speier said the American public can expect to see this week transcripts of recent closed-door congressional appearances by current and former Trump administration officials at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
"I think you're going to see all of the transcripts that are going to be released probably within the next five days," Speier said on "Face the Nation." "I don't know if they're all going to be released on the same day. But they're going to be very telling to the American people."
The California Democrat suggested the transcripts and the public hearings will allow the American to reach the same conclusion most of her Democratic colleagues have already made.
"That's going to give the American people an eye on exactly what we have heard. And what we have heard is growing evidence of grounds for impeachment," Speier added.
Read more here.
Whistleblower willing to answer Republicans' questions, lawyer says
5:30 a.m.: A lawyer for the whistleblower told CBS News he offered to have Republicans on the House Intelligence Community submit questions to his client directly without having to go through the committee's Democratic majority.
Attorney Mark Zaid told CBS News he contacted Representative Devin Nunes, the committee's ranking member, on Saturday to say his client is willing to answer Republicans' questions under oath and penalty of perjury if lawmakers submitted written questions to the whistleblower's legal team. The inspector general of the intelligence community, a President Trump appointee, could verify the whistleblower's identity in order to satisfy the committee's minority members while protecting the individual's anonymity.
Nunes' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zaid said the offer underscores his client's desire to ensure his complaint is handled in a nonpartisan way.
Read the full story here.
Hoyer: Lawmakers "have a duty to the country" on impeachment
5:00 a.m: Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the House, said lawmakers in Congress have a constitutional responsibility to continue the impeachment inquiry -- regardless of the potential political fallout his party may face.
"This is not a calculation about whether this is good for us politically or bad for us politically," Hoyer said on "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
Hoyer conceded that the impeachment drive -- as well as potential articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump -- "may well" have political ramifications for Democrats. But he suggested it is a price his party is willing to pay.
"But we have a duty. We have a duty to the country, to the American people, and to the Constitution of the United States," he said. -- Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Read more here.