House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the White House is obstructing an impeachment inquiry by blocking the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and other key witnesses from testifying.
“We consider this act today, and the withholding of the ambassador’s documents and other efforts to discourage other State Department witnesses, as further acts of obstruction of a co-equal branch of government,” Schiff said Tuesday.
The California Democrat made the accusation after the State Department blocked Gordon Sondland’s testimony hours before his scheduled appearance at a closed-door session on Capitol Hill.
The Trump administration also refused to turn over text messages sent by Sondland related to concerns President Trump was withholding security aid to Ukraine in an effort to get the government to investigate actions by Democrats during the 2016 election.
The Trump administration is blocking other witnesses summoned by Schiff, who is now leading an impeachment inquiry announced last month by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Republicans and the Trump administration contend that the House is not conducting a formal impeachment inquiry because Democrats have not voted to begin an investigation, which would have required formalizing rules for conducting the investigation and provided some rights to the minority GOP.
Republicans appeared before the cameras after Schiff departed and backed the Trump administration’s decision.
“What we see in this impeachment inquiry is a kangaroo court, and Chairman Schiff is acting like a malicious kangaroo,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.
Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York called the investigation “a clown show.”
Republicans want the Democrats to hold a vote on opening an impeachment inquiry. They also want Democrats to release transcripts of prior closed-door hearings rather than providing selective leaks that support their narrative that the president engaged in wrongdoing by asking Ukraine officials to help investigate Democrats and former Vice President Joe Biden.
The investigation has largely been conducted behind closed doors. Schiff now plans to hold a closed hearing with the whistleblower who first reported alleged wrongdoing by the president that would hide the whistleblower’s identity from Republican lawmakers.
Schiff and Democrats appear to be building a case to draft an article of impeachment based on their view that Trump is obstructing Congress.
“It’s hard to overstate the significance of not just Ambassador Sondland’s testimony and documents, but testimony of others as well,” Schiff told reporters Tuesday.
“The failure to produce this eyewitnesses and these documents, we consider strong evidence of obstruction of the Constitution and Congress as a co-equal branch of government.”
