WASHINGTON -- Fiona Hill, a former top National Security Council expert on Russia, was testifying to Congress in private Monday, the latest former official of President Donald Trump's administration to be subpoenaed as part of the House impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Hill wouldn't comment as she arrived on Capitol Hill, but her attorney said she had received a congressional subpoena and would "comply and answer questions" from lawmakers. She resigned from the White House National Security Council over the summer.
She is the first White House official to appear as part of the House impeachment inquiry. Her appearance comes despite a White House vow to halt any and all cooperation with what it termed the "illegitimate" impeachment probe. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether it had sought to limit Hill's testimony.
Republicans called on Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to release transcripts of the depositions to the public. The California Democrat said Sunday that having witnesses appear in private would prevent them from knowing what other witnesses said.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, said he learned Monday morning that Schiff had subpoenaed Hill.
"She was going to come, she'd agreed to come, she was going to come voluntarily but he's going to subpoena her, I believe, so he could ask certain questions and again keep those secret except for the certain things he wants to leak," Jordan said. "The tragedy here and the crime here is that the American people don't get to see what's going on in these sessions."
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The subpoena was issued because of attempts by the Trump administration to direct witnesses not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry and to limit the testimony of witnesses, an official working on the impeachment inquiry told The Associated Press. Hill complied with the subpoena and was answering questions from both Democrats and Republicans, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of the private deposition.
UKRAINE MATTER
Hill viewed the recall of Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, from Kyiv as an egregious abuse of the system by allies of Trump who were seeking to push aside a perceived obstacle, according to a person familiar with Hill's account. Yovanovitch told the investigators in private testimony last week that the president had personally pushed for her ouster for months, based on "false claims."
The removal of Yovanovitch has emerged as a key episode in the narrative under examination by the House as part of its impeachment inquiry against Trump. A career diplomat, Yovanovitch was targeted by Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, and other allies who were seeking to press Ukraine to investigate Trump's Democratic rivals.
Yovanovitch testified last week about her understanding of Giuliani's efforts to remove her from her post. Giuliani and some of his allies in Ukraine saw Yovanovitch, a career diplomat, as a threat to their financial and political interests, she told lawmakers last week.
Hill had no opening statement for Monday's session, unlike Yovanovitch and Kurt Volker, the former special envoy for Ukraine, when they were interviewed by House investigators. The interview was taking place privately, but parts or all of it may be made public later. Unlike Volker, she had no documents, emails or text messages to turn over because she left them behind when she stepped down.
OTHER WITNESSES
Hill worked closely with Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, who in text messages obtained and later released by House Democrats appeared to defend Trump against the allegation that he was pursuing investigations in exchange for U.S. support to Ukraine.
Sondland is scheduled to appear before impeachment investigators Thursday and plans to say that the context of a text message insisting there was no quid pro quo in play was given to him directly by Trump in a phone call, according to a person familiar with his testimony.
Sondland plans to tell lawmakers he has no knowledge of whether the president was telling him the truth at that moment. "It's only true that the president said it, not that it was the truth," said the person familiar with Sondland's planned testimony, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters.
A former top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also been asked to appear for an interview this week, according to several officials familiar with the planning.
Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer and Pompeo's de facto chief of staff, resigned Friday, ending a 37-year career, as the impeachment inquiry turns its focus on the State Department in the Ukraine matter.
Sources were unauthorized to discuss the planning and were granted anonymity.
House Democrats asked that McKinley appear for a private interview Wednesday, the day after George Kent, another State Department official, is scheduled to appear today. It is unclear if they will appear.
One witness who may not be called before Congress is the still-anonymous government whistleblower who touched off the impeachment inquiry.
Schiff said on Sunday that Democrats "don't need the whistleblower, who wasn't on the call, to tell us what took place on the call."
Schiff said it "may not be necessary" to reveal the whistleblower's identity as the House gathers evidence. "Our primary interest right now is making sure that that person is protected," he said.
But Trump strongly objected.
"Adam Schiff now doesn't seem to want the Whistleblower to testify. NO!" the Republican president tweeted early Monday. "We must determine the Whistleblower's identity to determine WHY this was done to the USA."
The impeachment inquiry is testing the Constitution's system of checks and balances as the House presses forward with the inquiry and the White House dismisses it as "illegitimate" because there has been no formal vote of the House to open impeachment proceedings.
In calling for a vote, the White House is trying to press House Democrats who may be politically reluctant to put their names formally behind impeachment.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has resisted those efforts and is unlikely to budge as Congress returns this week.
Democrats say Congress is well within its power as the legislative branch to conduct oversight of the president and that it is Republicans, having grown weary of Trump's actions, who may be in the greater political bind over a vote.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Balsamo, Mary Clare Jalonick, Eric Tucker and Lisa Mascaro of The Associated Press; by Peter Baker of The New York Times; and by Karoun Demirjian of The Washington Post.
A Section on 10/15/2019