New Testimonies as Trump Impeachment Probe Continues

By Staff, Agencies

New public testimonies are delivered on Tuesday in the impeachment probe into US President Donald Trump over pressure on Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.

The hearings kicked off with Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, left, and National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.

In his opening statement, House Intelligence chairperson Adam Schiff condemned what he described as attempts to discredit the witnesses ahead of their testimonies.

Minority leader Devin Nunes, in his turn, lambasted the mainsteam media over alleged bias in coverage of the impeachment probe, calling on Americans to take a look at pieces on Ukraine in the Hill newspaper.

Vindman said that the contentious July 25 call between Trump and Ukraine's leader Zelensky could jeopardize the ties between the two countries -- and thus affect the US interests in the region.

He also testified that Oleksandr Danylyuk, the former secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, offered him the position of Ukraine's defense minister.

"I think it would be a great honor and frankly I'm aware of service members that have left service to help nurture the developing democracies in that part of the world," Vindman said, adding, however, that he strongly rejected the offer every time.

Williams testified that the July 25 call was 'unusual' in that it seemed to touch upon America's domestic issues.

Both witnesses testified that the phone call transcript released by the White House was substantively correct.

The previous public hearing saw, William B. Taylor, US envoy to Ukraine, say his staff overheard Trump asking another diplomat about the Ukraine investigations after the July 25th call.