WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee will hold public hearings for three days next week in its impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, the panel’s chairman, Representative Adam Schiff, said.
The witnesses for the committee’s hearings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week have already given closed-door depositions, Schiff, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry begin on Wednesday. The probe centres on whether Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Next week, National Security Council official Alexander Vindman; Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence; former US Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and National Security Council official Tim Morrison will testify on Nov. 19.
Testifying on November 20 will be US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper and Undersecretary of State David Hale.
Former National Security Council official Fiona Hill will testify on Nov. 21.
Schiff said Democrats had accepted all of the Republican requests for witnesses “that are within the scope of the impeachment inquiry.”
On Saturday, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, Representative Devin Nunes, sent a request for witnesses that included Hunter Biden, who was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, and the anonymous
whistleblower whose complaint touched off the inquiry.
Nunes also requested the testimony of Hale, Morrison and Volker.
Democrats have not yet officially notified Republicans which of their witnesses have been accepted or rejected, a House Republican source said.
Earlier, a top US State Department official on Wednesday appeared before the impeachment probe into President Donald Trump, the first witness to show up this week after a string of administration officials refused to meet with investigators.
David Hale, who was appointed by Trump as under secretary for political affairs, met behind closed doors with lawmakers who are leading the probe of Trump in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
