- Title: Returning from recess, Democrats press Trump impeachment inquiry
- Date: 14th October 2019
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 14, 2019) (UNRESTRICTED POOL - Broadcasters: NONE Digital: NONE) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** HILL EXITING AN ELEVATOR AND ENTERING A ROOM OF THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN ADAM SCHIFF DESCENDING A STAIRCASE
- Embargoed: 28th October 2019 13:29
- Keywords: Donald Trump Fiona Hill Adam Schiff House Intelligence Committee impeachment
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002B12M05J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives will crank up its impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump this week as lawmakers return after a two-week recess, with closed-door testimony from current and former administration officials looming.
The House Intelligence Committee, leading the impeachment inquiry, is scheduled on Monday (October 14) to hear from Fiona Hill, former senior director for European and Russian Affairs on Trump's National Security Council.
The headline event could be testimony on Thursday from Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, that was rescheduled after Trump's administration blocked a previously scheduled appearance.
Sondland, a political appointee and Trump political donor rather than a career diplomat, participated in a text message exchange that Democrats have said reveals the internal concern among aides that the Republican president's pressure on Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Joe Biden, was improper.
The impeachment inquiry focuses on a July 25 phone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Biden, a top contender for the Democratic nomination to face him in the 2020 presidential election, and Biden's businessman son Hunter Biden.
Democrats have accused Trump of pressuring a vulnerable U.S. ally to dig up dirt on a domestic political rival after withholding $391 million in U.S. security aid intended to help combat Russia-backed separatists in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Trump has denied wrongdoing. The inquiry could prompt the House to approve articles of impeachment - formal charges - leading to a trial in the Senate on whether to remove Trump from office. The Senate is led by Trump's fellow Republicans, who have shown little inclination toward removing him.
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