Staff from three U.S. House of Representatives committees at the center of an impeachment inquiry involving President Donald Trump and Ukraine are holding a closed-door deposition Thursday with Kurt Volker, the recently resigned U.S. envoy for Ukraine.
Questions are likely to focus on a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Volker’s actions following the call, and the activities of Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in connection with allegations Trump pressured Zelenskiy to investigate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Those allegations came in a whistleblower complaint made public last week, which said that according to multiple White House officials, Trump also pressured Zelenskiy to “meet or speak with two people the President named explicitly as his personal envoys on these matters,” naming Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr.
Volker resigned the day after the complaint was released.
He helped in trying to arrange meetings between Giuliani and Zelenskiy. The State Department said that in response to a request from a Zelenskiy adviser, Volker had put the aide in contact with Giuliani.
The whistleblower complaint pushed Democrats in the House of Representatives to formally launch their impeachment inquiry. It says the day after the Trump-Zelenskiy call, Volker and the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland met with the Ukrainian president and other political figures.
Source : VOA