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| U.S. President Donald Trump |
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday intensified their impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump, saying they would subpoena White House records concerning his July telephone call with Ukraineโs leader and warning administration officials not to obstruct the probe.
Asked at a news conference whether he would comply with the Democratsโ request for recordings, transcripts and other documents, Trump said that โI always cooperate,โ but added that he considered the impeachment inquiry a hoax and stated, โWeโll see what happens.โ The subpoena request has the potential to become a flashpoint in the showdown between the Republican president and the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a close ally of Trump, acknowledged earlier in the day during a trip to Italy that he had listened in on the call in which the Republican president asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate a domestic political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The call prompted the House to launch its impeachment inquiry last week. Pompeoโs admission came a day after he objected to Democratic efforts as part of the impeachment inquiry to obtain depositions from five current and former State Department officials.
โWeโre not fooling around here, though. We donโt want this to drag on months and months and months, which appears to be the administrationโs strategy,โ House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, whose panel leads the inquiry, told a news conference alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
REUTERS
