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.”
‘Tsunami of Republican Money’ Could Turn Midterms Upside Down, Says Top Democrat
NY Dem Congressional Candidate Wants Cornell 7’s ‘Severed Heads on Pikes,’ Ignores That There’s Been No Trial
99,000 arrested at Mexican border in Trump’s first year versus two million in Biden’s year one
Schumer warns of Republican advantage that could change the battle for Senate control
Democrats have ‘dirty hands’ over complaints about Omar raid weeks before election, ex-prosecutor says
Trump announces massive oil, gas and mineral exploration plans in Greenland, touts national security benefits
Trump administration slashes time refugees have to challenge loss of legal status
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he won’t fire NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch despite socialist pressure
Trump signs pardons for Alaska diesel mechanics onstage during rally touting major energy deals
Trump Energy Department issues emergency order to prevent blackouts across 13 states amid unusual October heat
Florida executes inmate who killed cellmate because he wanted death penalty
Great Wolf Lodge horror as mom accused of killing husband and toddler inside hotel room
Campaign Blunder Causes Ad for Key Senate Race to Air in the Wrong State on the Opposite End of the Country
Attorney says fatal Six Flags roller coaster accident could raise broader safety questions as 9 rides close
Breaking: DOJ Subpoenas Ilhan Omar’s Sister, Other Family Over Evidence of Fraudulent Immigration Paperwork
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.
