Trump impeachment inquiry in new phase as Pelosi sets vote

Bloomberg

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump into a new phase that signals the public soon will get a look at the witnesses and evidence being assembled to build a case against the president.
Amid Republican complaints that the investigation is illegitimate, Pelosi announced that the full House would vote on the next steps for the existing inquiry being run by three committees.
Even before the House acts, the committees were set to get a key piece of evidence when a former Army officer assigned to the White House National Security Council (NSC) testifies that he listened to Trump’s July telephone call with Ukraine’s president and was so disturbed by the conversation that he reported it to the NSC’s legal counsel.
“I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the US government’s support of Ukraine,” Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman said in a statement prepared for the inquiry.
Vindman is testifying voluntarily under subpoena despite White House attempts to prevent current and former administration officials from cooperating with the House probe. His account of the Trump’s call largely corroborates the complaint of an intelligence community whistle-blower, who Trump and his allies have dismissed as passing on second-hand information. Vindman said in his statement that he is not the whistle-blower.
In announcing the vote, Pelosi and her fellow Democrats are directly challenging the White House rationale for attempting to block witnesses from testifying and refusing to turn over documents.
“We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorised subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Democratic colleagues.
Pelosi acted after saying for some time that there was no need for a House vote to authorise an impeachment inquiry, as Trump and Republicans have insisted. Democrats said the vote, which could come as soon as Thursday, wasn’t a response to the GOP criticism but was needed to set out the rules for a process that is all but certain to result in articles of impeachment against the president.
All but a handful of Democrats have publicly gotten behind the impeachment inquiry.

Vote may ‘haunt’ Republicans
Bloomberg

Nancy Pelosi’s plan for an impeachment-related House vote this week threatens to put Donald Trump’s defenders in a tight spot.
The speaker’s decision to counter charges that the closed-door probe is illegitimate with a vote on the next steps poses a dilemma for Republicans: They can defy a president still popular with the conservative base or go on record effectively opposing an effort that’s gaining public support, without knowing what other damaging revelations may emerge.
In a sign that Pelosi’s move has already blunted attacks, Republican senators said the House vote could change their
plans for a resolution — sponsored by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump ally Lindsey Graham — condemning the inquiry.