Trump impeachment report to be sent after Thanksgiving

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The House Intelligence Committee is preparing its report summarizing its evidence in U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment proceedings, which will be sent to the Judiciary Committee after Thanksgiving, the intelligence chairman said Monday.

In a "dear colleague" letter Adam Schiff told lawmakers his committee's "investigative work continues," and he would not rule out the possibility of additional hearings or depositions after two weeks of public hearings.

But he said the Intelligence Committee's report would be transmitted to the Judiciary Committee "soon after" Congress returns next week.

"Even as we draft our report, we are open to the possibility that additional evidence will come to light, whether in the form of witnesses who provide testimony or documents that become available," Schiff wrote. "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."

Once the report is transmitted the impeachment hearing will shift to the Judiciary Committee with Chairman Jerry Nadler taking the reins.

The House of Representatives' ongoing impeachment investigation is centered on Trump's repeated requests to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open criminal investigations into Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, as well as claims that it was Ukraine, not Russia, who meddled in the 2016 election.

Also at issue is the hold-up of some $400 million in congressionally-appropriated military aid to Ukraine, and whether Trump conditioned the release of that assistance and a possible Oval Office meeting with Zelensky on the Ukrainian president publicly announcing the investigations he sought.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the impeachment probe as a "witch hunt," and denied wrongdoing.

Roughly a dozen witnesses have offered sworn public testimony before Schiff's committee with Trump's EU ambassador, Gordon Sondland, saying last week that the president directed a quid pro quo scheme.

Sondland said there was a “clear quid pro quo” of making U.S. military aid and a White House visit contingent on Zelensky publicly announcing the investigations.

"I know that members of this Committee frequently frame these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a quid pro quo?" said Sondland. "With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes."