WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment inquiry (all times local):
12:35 p.m.
House Democrats have released two new transcripts as they wrap up closed-door depositions in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
Impeachment investigators released the testimony of Fiona Hill, a former White House Russia adviser, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an Army officer assigned to the National Security Council. Both testified about their concerns as Trump pushed Ukraine for investigations of Democrats.
Vindman listened in to the July 25 call where Trump personally appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the investigations of political rival Joe Biden and his family and also Ukraine’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
A whistleblower’s complaint about that call triggered the impeachment probe.
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10 a.m.
President Donald Trump says he’s considering releasing the transcript of an April call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He says that, if House investigators want to see a summary of the April 21 call, he has “no problem” giving it to them.
That call came three months before the July 25 call that sparked the impeachment inquiry into his efforts to push Zelenskiy to investigate his political rivals.
Trump on Friday also dismissed the significance of the impeachment inquiry testimony that has been released so far as he left the White House for a trip to Georgia.
He says, “No one seems to have any first-hand knowledge” and claims that, “Every one of those people canceled themselves out.”
He’s also criticizing Democrats in the House for planning public hearings, even though the White House pushed for them to happen.
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1:04 a.m.
There were three words President Donald Trump wanted to hear from the Ukraine president: Investigations, Biden, Clinton.
That’s according to the transcript, released Thursday, of an impeachment inquiry interview with career State Department official George Kent.
Kent told investigators that that was his understanding of what Trump wanted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to say in order to unlock U.S. military aid, as relayed to the official by others, including those in direct contact with the president.
