Public impeachment inquiry hearings to begin next week
Updated at 12:10 p.m. ET
House Democrats have announced they will begin public hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump next week.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., announced two days of hearings. The first will be with acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent on Wednesday, Nov. 13. On Nov. 15, the committee will hear from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
All three witnesses have previously testified in closed-door sessions. Yovanovitch's deposition transcript was released on Monday; Taylor's is expected to come out on Wednesday.
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Schiff said the public hearings "will be an opportunity for the American people to evaluate the witnesses for themselves," and, he said, "to learn first hand about the facts of the president's misconduct."
Schiff said the closed-door testimony taken so far has illustrated "the degree to which the President enlisted whole departments of government in the illicit aim of trying to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on a political opponent," former Vice President Joe Biden.
Taylor, in his opening statement to the panel last month, "described a shadow foreign policy operation being led by President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani where U.S. aid to Ukraine was contingent on the country undertaking investigations that could help Trump in his campaign for reelection in 2020," reported NPR's Franco Ordoñez.
The White House maintains it has done nothing wrong and dismisses the inquiry as a "sham."
This week — with the release of deposition transcripts — marks the beginning of the open phase of the inquiry, which had been conducted out of public view.
The House voted on its next steps on Oct. 28. After open hearings, Schiff is expected to issue a report on his committee's findings and recommendations to send to the House Judiciary Committee, which will consider any potential articles of impeachment. Read more about the inquiry outline here.
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