House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff accused Vice President Mike Pence of refusing to declassify information “directly relevant” to the impeachment inquiry in order to conceal his role in the quid pro quo scheme for which President Trump is being impeached.
Pence’s Russia adviser Jennifer Williams testified last month about the vice president’s September 18 phone call with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Schiff requested ten days later that Pence declassify her testimony, contained in a November 26 letter from her lawyer, but Pence last week declined to do so in a letter to Schiff.
The testimony “raises profound questions about your knowledge of the President’s scheme to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election,” Schiff wrote in a Tuesday letter to Pence, adding that Pence’s letter refusing to classify Williams’s testimony is “deeply troubling.”
“Without prompting, the letter volunteers that ‘the Vice President never raised the Bidens, Burisma, or Crowdstrike in his conversations with President Zelensky,’” Schiff wrote, referring to Pence’s letter. “The Committee neither asserted that, nor asked whether, you specifically used those words.”
Musk to Seek Full Custody After His Child’s Mother, a Former Conservative Influencer, Backs Gender Transition
Trump Announces His First Move After ‘Locked and Loaded’ Warning Against Iran
Elizabeth Warren says Trump called her after speech criticizing his record on costs
Riley Gaines to interview alleged victim in West Virginia v. B.P.J.
Trump dealt GOP blows over Powell inquiry amid rising tensions with Congress
Bill Clinton scheduled to appear before Oversight Committee as contempt of Congress threat looms
New York City unions have history of supporting Maduro regime
Mississippi man accused of killing six in shooting spree pleads not guilty
Rep Ro Khanna demands prosecution of ICE agent in Minneapolis fatal shooting
Jack Smith to testify next week at a public House Judiciary Committee hearing
Nonprofit revenue totals surge amid growing scrutiny after major fraud cases
Trump imposes 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran
‘Disturbance’ at Georgia Prison Leaves 3 Inmates Dead, a Dozen More Injured
Trump rips congestion pricing, calls for immediate end: ‘A disaster for New York’
Minnesota sues Trump admin over sweeping immigration raids in Twin Cities
Williams’s testimony directly conflicts with Pence’s statements, Schiff said, raising concerns that Pence could have been “purposefully misleading” the Intelligence Committee about his conversation with Zelensky.
“Your unwillingness to declassify the Supplemental Submission raises the serious question of whether your continuing efforts to obstruct the House’s impeachment inquiry are intended not just to protect President Trump, but yourself as well,” Schiff stated in his letter.
Pence’s office has declined to comment.
The House is set to hold a full House vote to impeach President Trump on two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The nearly three-month impeachment inquiry investigated whether Trump engaged in a quid pro quo with Ukraine by temporarily delaying U.S. military aid to the NATO ally while pressuring the country to announce an investigation into his political rival, former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Story cited here.
