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.”
WATCH: Josh Hawley issues blistering rebuke of McConnell over ‘obligation’ to country
Tulsi Gabbard’s brother charged after allegedly trying to lure children to Waikīkī hotel room: police
Andrew, Tristan Tate arrested in Miami as UK seeks extradition on expanded rape, trafficking charges
Mamdani doubles down on democratic socialism while insisting Wall Street, business leaders can work with him
Boston police investigate death at home owned by Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s husband
Bernie Sanders dismisses Haley Stevens, says Michigan race is against the ‘billionaire class’
Mamdani says NYC is exploring whether it can arrest Netanyahu if Israeli leader visits for UN General Assembly
Man who allegedly rode naked atop moving locomotive busted after bizarre train stunt: sheriff
Liberal circuit judge blasts SCOTUS conservatives, says Hawaii will defy high court
Rubio Goes Viral as Millions Watch, Share His Rousing Speech on the Evils of the Modern Left
Caitlin Clark Sets Scoring Record with Monster 45-Point Game in Comeback Win
Tough But Moral: How Israel Phoned a Terrorist and Offered to Kill Him Without Touching His Family… and He Took the Deal
Breaking: Two US Service Members Killed in Iranian Strike on Air Base
Stephen Miller says Trump administration is pursuing policy to debank illegal immigrants
New Yorkers collected $2.6 billion in welfare cash payments last year, city data shows
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.
