U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff warned Wednesday that Trump administration efforts to impede a congressional impeachment investigation into the president will be construed as proof of obstruction of justice.
“We are concerned that the White House will attempt to stonewall our investigation,” Schiff said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
“We want to make it abundantly clear that any effort by the Secretary [of State], by the president or anyone else, to interfere with the Congress’ ability to call before it relevant witnesses will be considered as evidence of obstruction,” Schiff added.
House Democratic leaders initiated the impeachment probe last week after the disclosure of details of a telephone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy eight times to investigate leading 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s son.
The call eventually precipitated a whistleblower complaint expressing concern Trump was seeking foreign interference in the election by asking Ukraine to investigate Biden.
Since the beginning of the impeachment probe, Schiff and other Democratic committee chairs have requested documents and depositions from current and former Trump administration officials related to interactions with Ukraine.
But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday his employees would not appear for scheduled depositions with House investigators.
Earlier Wednesday, Pompeo admitted he was on the call in question.
“I was on the phone call,” Pompeo confirmed Wednesday at a news conference in Rome, without offering details about what was said during the conversation between Trump and Zelenskiy.
During an interview last week on ABC News’ “This Week,” Pompeo was vague about what he knew about the call.
“So, you just gave me a report about a I.C. (intelligence community) whistleblower complaint, none of which I’ve seen,” Pompeo had said.
Trump insists he did nothing wrong in the phone call. He has been criticizing the impeachment inquiry launched by House Democrats against him as a “coup,” while the heads of several House of Representatives committees accuse Pompeo of blocking their efforts to gather documents and interview witnesses.
Trump reiterated to reporters Wednesday in the White House that he had a “perfect conversation” with Zelenskiy and renewed a call for Schiff’s resignation, citing treason.
The State Department’s inspector general is expected to meet Wednesday with staff from the House and Senate appropriations, oversight, foreign affairs and intelligence committees to discuss documents that lawmakers have requested as they probe the July phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy.
The House intelligence, oversight and foreign affairs committees had asked to hear testimony Wednesday from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, but that session was postponed until next week. Former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker is expected to speak to the committees Thursday.
Pompeo sent a letter Tuesday to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel saying requests for State Department documents and depositions with current and former officials “can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully and treat improperly” the department’s staff.
He said the requests raise “significant legal and procedural concerns,” and dismissed warnings that not cooperating would amount to obstruction.
Engel, along with Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings and Schiff, responded by pointing to reports that Pompeo was on Trump’s call with Zelenskiy, saying that means he has an “obvious conflict of interest” and “should not be making any decisions regarding witness testimony or document production in order to protect himself or the President.”
They wrote that if it is true Pompeo participated in the call, then he is “now a fact witness in the impeachment inquiry.”
Majority Democrats in the House are pursuing the impeachment inquiry to see whether they want to officially bring charges against Trump under their constitutional authority to seek to remove officials who engage in “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
