US House to vote Thursday on Donald Trump impeachment inquiry procedures
- Democrats said the move would ‘ensure transparency and provide a clear path forward’ as the inquiry continues
- Charles Kupperman, who served as a deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton, skipped a deposition Monday
House Democrats said on Monday that the House will vote on Thursday to formalise procedures for the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump.
Democrats said the move would “ensure transparency and provide a clear path forward” as the inquiry continues.
Earlier, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said that a former deputy national security adviser had “no basis in law” to skip a deposition Monday and that his failure to appear was further evidence of Trump’s efforts to obstruct Congress.
Charles Kupperman, who served as a deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton, filed a lawsuit Friday seeking guidance from a federal judge about whether he should listen to the executive branch, which has told him not to attend, or to Congress. Since there has not yet been a ruling, he declined to appear.
Kupperman listened in to the July 25 call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
That call is at the centre of the impeachment inquiry, which Trump and his Republican allies continued to attack Monday as unfair.