25th November, 2019
US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump hope to submit their reports after members return from their one-week Thanksgiving recess.
Schiff said the committees are working to turn the reports to the Judiciary committee.
In a Dear Colleague letter sent to members of the Democratic caucus, Schiff said the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Reform committees continue to investigate President Trump. He did not rule out the possibility of additional hearings or depositions.
But he also said investigators did not want to allow the administration to delay their probe through court challenges.
“Over the course of our inquiry, we have uncovered a months-long effort in which President Trump again sought foreign interference in our elections for his personal and political benefit at the expense of our national interest. As the evidence conclusively shows, President Trump conditioned official acts—a White House meeting desperately desired by the new Ukrainian president and critical U.S. military assistance—on Ukraine announcing sham, politically-motivated investigations that would help President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign,” he wrote.
“The corrupt intent made plain in the record of the July 25 call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky has been supplemented by significant evidence showing the extent of the President’s abuse of power both before and after the July 25 telephone call. This conduct directed by the President not only became more ‘insidious’ over time, but was known to the vice president, the president’s chief of staff, the secretary of State, and others down the line.”
The California Democrat defended how the committees have conducted the probe, adding he believes they have uncovered “massive amounts” of evidence despite “obstruction” from the White House during the course of the two weeks of public hears and 17 depositions and transcribed interviews that took place behind closed doors.
The letter noted a dozen would-be witnesses defied subpoenas and Schiff argues the White House undertook an “an unprecedented campaign of obstruction” as they worked to conduct the investigation.
“In fact, the Committees did not receive a single document from any executive branch agencies pursuant to our subpoenas,” he continued.
“And, yet, this effort to stonewall failed in the face of repeated witness testimony that provided the Committees with direct evidence of the president’s actions and identified records documenting the president’s effort and the complicity of senior officials in it.”
Read the full report in thehill.com