The committee wrapped up a week of high-profile public hearings Thursday with testimony from Fiona Hill, a Russia expert who worked on President Donald Trump’s National Security Council. Her forceful testimony countered the Republican defense of Trump and his dealings in Ukraine and connected the dots between the dozen current and former administration witnesses who testified.
“If other witnesses seek to show the same patriotism and courage of their colleagues and deputies and decide to obey their duty to the country over fealty to the President, we are prepared to hear from them,” Schiff wrote.
While some State Department and National Security Council employees provided testimony under subpoena, additional key witnesses were effectively blocked by the executive branch from testifying, including acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former national security adviser John Bolton.
Schiff said the president’s effort to prevent their testimony “further demonstrates consciousness of guilt on the part of the President.”
The report will be turned over to the House Judiciary Committee, led by Jerrold Nadler. That panel will take the lead in the next phase of the impeachment inquiry, deciding whether or not to draft articles of impeachment.
The report will include all the instances of noncompliance with subpoenas, and Schiff said the Judiciary Committee can use that information to decide whether to include an article of impeachment focused on obstruction of Congress based on those instances.
