Public hearings in impeachment inquiry of Trump will begin next week, House officials announce

WASHINGTON - The House Intelligence Committee will hold the first open hearings of the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry next week, with three diplomats who've provided key closed-door testimony in the Ukraine controversy set to appear.

The announcement came as David Hale, the State Department’s third-ranking official, testified privately before House investigators, who were preparing to release more transcripts of key closed-door depositions that have propelled the Democratic-led presidential impeachment inquiry.

Democrats hope Hale can shed more light on the removal of Marie Yovanovitch as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine after she became the target of false rumors questioning her loyalty to President Donald Trump.

Hale's appearance comes a day after the release of revised testimony by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. He said he told a Ukrainian official that military assistance was likely to resume only if authorities opened investigations requested by Trump that could be damaging to former vice president Joe Biden.

At the White House, Kellyanne Conway told reporters that acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney will not appear before House investigators Friday for a requested deposition.

"I'm told no," the White House counselor told reporters when asked if Mulvaney plans to appear.

"Why would we try to be complicit in an impeachment inquiry that we're not even sure what it's about?" Conway said. "What is it about? If I gave you a blank piece of paper, literally, what would you write on it? What are we telling the American people, right here right now, as to why we're impeaching the president?"

In a letter Tuesday, House investigators said they are interested in Mulvaney's involvement in an effort by Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others to withhold a White House meeting from the Ukrainian president and nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid at a time when Trump was pressing investigations that could benefit him politically.

Conway also told reporters Wednesday that Sondland's testimony did not change the White House position that no "quid pro quo" took place.

"That is the White House's position, and I don't think that his latest revisions change that," Conway said. "As far as I can see, Ambassador Sondland said that he 'presumed' - and last week we had a witness who said 'my interpretation was.' Ladies and gentleman, be careful, because you cannot impeach a president and remove him from office in a constitutional democracy . . . based on somebody saying they presumed and someone else saying they interpreted."

Also Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., announced a transcript of the testimony of William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, would be released.

"I think you will see in the transcript what a dedicated public servant Ambassador Taylor is," Schiff told reporters at a brief news conference at which he took no questions.

Taylor is also scheduled to appear in open testimony next Wednesday. Schiff said that the open hearings will make clear that "the most important facts are largely not contested" and give the public the opportunity "to learn firsthand about the facts of the president's misconduct."

"We are getting an increasing appreciation for just what took place in the course of the last year" regarding the president's effort to enlist government departments in aiding his reelection, he added.

Earlier, the anonymous whistleblower's legal team pushed back against a stepped-up campaign by allies of the president to out the whistleblower, warning that such efforts "will place that individual and their family at risk of serious harm."

In a statement, lawyers Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid also said they will neither confirm nor deny any name that is circulated by Trump's supporters. "Disclosure of any name undermines the integrity of the whistleblower system and will deter any future whistleblowers," they said.

The lawyers added that the campaign by Trump's allies "shows the desperation to deflect from the substance of the whistleblower complaint."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.. also denounced the efforts to out the whistleblower, calling them "a blatant attempt at witness intimidation."

“Our laws do not permit retaliation against witnesses and anonymous tipsters in criminal cases, and we should not tolerate it in this case either,” Hoyer said in a statement. “I call on federal law enforcement to look closely at the concerning statements made recently by some Republican Members of Congress and for our intelligence agencies to take all necessary steps to protect the whistleblower’s anonymity.”