What’s next: Trump impeachment hearings enter crucial stretch

Career Foreign Service officer George Kent and top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor (right) testify at the Capitol Hill

The House impeachment hearings are entering a crucial second week as Democrats are set to hear from eight additional witnesses about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Three State Department officials have already testified about their concerns as Trump pushed Ukraine to investigate Democrats and withheld military aid from the country.

What’s ahead on the impeachment schedule:

A PARADE OF WITNESSES

The House intelligence committee, which is conducting the impeachment hearings, has set a breakneck schedule ahead of the Thanksgiving recess.

Eight more witnesses will testify, some in back-to-back hearings on the same day. Among them will be Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council official who said he raised concerns in the White House about Trump’s push for investigations; Gordon Sondland, Trump’s European Union ambassador, who spoke to the president about the Ukraine policy; and Fiona Hill, a former Russia adviser to the White House who told lawmakers about former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s concerns about Ukraine.

All of the witnesses testifying have already spoken to investigators in closed depositions, some of them for 10 hours or more.

SONDLAND’S BIG MOMENT

Perhaps the most anticipated witness is Sondland, since he spoke multiple times to the president about Ukraine policy. Sondland will testify alone on Wednesday morning.

Other witnesses’ testimony suggests Sondland was intimately involved in discussions over whether Trump held up the military aid to Ukraine to try to pressure the county’s president to announce the investigations into Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 candidate, and his son, Hunter.

Testimony last week revealed that at least three people overheard a July phone call in which Trump and Sondland discussed efforts to push for the investigations.

TWO OF THE “THREE AMIGOS”

The intelligence committee will hear from both Sondland and former Ukrainian envoy Kurt Volker this week — two of the so-called “three amigos” who had taken the lead on Ukrainian policy outside normal channels. The third “amigo” was Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who has refused to provide documents or testify in the impeachment probe on Trump’s orders.

Several of the diplomats who were supposed to be in charge of Ukraine policy have testified about their concerns as the men appeared to coordinate with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Volker, who will testify tomorrow [Macau time], was closely involved in negotiations with Ukrainian officials as they tried to figure out how to meet Trump’s demands.

INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE

In addition to the State Department officials, the nation will hear for the first time from aides who were privy to turmoil within the White House over Ukraine.

Today, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council aide, and Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence detailed from the State Department, will testify. Two former NSC aides, Tim Morrison and Fiona Hill, will testify tomorrow and Friday, respectively. Morrison will testify alongside Volker, who was also involved in White House meetings.

HEADED TO JUDICIARY

The intelligence committee is expected to wrap up its part of the impeachment probe in the coming weeks. After that, the three committees will submit a report to the Judiciary panel, which will oversee the impeachment process.

Judiciary is expected to hold its own hearings and, eventually, vote on articles of impeachment. Democrats say they are still deciding whether to write them.

Next would come a floor vote, and if articles of impeachment are approved by the House, there would then be a Senate trial. AP