The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who Donald Trump has called “bad news” was due to testify on Friday in the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into the president, while another U.S. envoy agreed to testify next week even as the White House sought to stonewall the investigation.
Marie Yovanovitch, a career diplomat who was abruptly recalled from Ukraine in May, is scheduled to give a deposition to congressional investigators probing Trump in a scandal that has cast a pall over his presidency.
The Democratic lawmakers leading the inquiry were waiting to see if Yovanovitch showed up after the White House said earlier in the week it would refuse to cooperate with an inquiry that the Republican president has termed “a kangaroo court”.
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, will comply with a House subpoena and testify next Thursday before the committees leading the impeachment inquiry, his lawyers said.
But Sondland is not authorized to release the documents the House committees have sought, his lawyers said, adding that he hopes the material will be shared with the committees before his appearance. Sondland was initially scheduled to testify before the House committees on Tuesday, but was blocked by the Trump administration from appearing. – READ MORE