Who's Who of Witnesses Called to Testify in the Impeachment Inquiries

The trio of committees leading the House’s impeachment inquiry has unleashed a torrent of requests for documents and depositions from a cast of characters in the poorly scripted political thriller in which we are living. Among them are a pair of shady Soviet-born South Florida businessmen, several frustrated career civil servants, and the once beloved ex-mayor of New York City. Here’s who has been called, how they’ve responded and why:

State Department Inspector General Steve Linick

Met with investigators and provided records on October 2

Linick turned over documents President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani sent to the State Department in the Spring which reportedly included conspiracy theories about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Guiliani has said the State Department promised him they would look into the accusations. Democratic Reps. Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings, chairs of the three committees conducting the impeachment inquiry, said in a joint statement the documents “raise troubling questions about apparent efforts inside and outside the Trump Administration to target specific officials.”

Former U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker

Deposed on October 3

Volker, who was the president’s envoy to Ukraine before he resigned on September 27, gave Congressional investigators a trove of text messages between himself, E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland and Bill Taylor, the U.S.’s top diplomat in Ukraine. Among the texts was the now-infamous exchange in which Taylor told Sondland, “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson

Deposed on October 4

The details of Atkinson’s seven-hour closed-door testimony have not been released, but House Intel Chair Adam Schiff said in a statement that the inspector general explained to impeachment investigators why he found the whistle-blower complaint about Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Volodmyr Zelensky both urgent and credible.

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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/impeachment-inquiry-witnesses-guide-896181/