WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump (all times local):
9:05 a.m.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he doesn’t think there’s anything impeachable in the transcript of a July phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s leader in which Trump asked for “a favor” while withholding military aid.
The South Carolina senator says he’s going to ask his Republican colleagues to sign a letter to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying, “We do not believe the transcript of the phone call between the president and the Ukraine is an impeachable offense.”
House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry focusing partly on whether Trump abused his powers and sought help from a foreign government to undermine Democratic rival Joe Biden and help his own reelection effort. Pelosi says such actions would be a “betrayal” of Trump’s oath of office.
Graham said Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” he wants Pelosi to know Republican senators “are not gonna impeach this president based on this transcript.”
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12:30 a.m.
House Democrats are waiting to see if the Trump administration will block the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from speaking to their investigators.
Marie Yovanovitch was recalled from the post and is scheduled to be deposed Friday.
Whether Yovanovitch will appear has been thrown into question by the White House’s assertion that it will not cooperate with what it now considers an illegitimate impeachment inquiry of the president.
The ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, had been scheduled for an interview Tuesday before a joint House committee taking depositions in the impeachment probe. Hours before his appearance, the administration blocked his testimony. House Democrats then subpoenaed Sondland, setting up another clash between the two branches of government.
