Rep. Nunes makes opening statement ahead of Ambassador Sondland's testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes gives his opening statement ahead of former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland Capitol Hill testimony.
The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee has sent a letter to Chairman Adam Schiff asking that Hunter Biden and the whistleblower whose complaint sparked the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump be subpoenaed to appear before the committee.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., along with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, penned a scathing letter to Schiff in which they slammed the “sham ‘impeachment inquiry’” and notified the chairman of their intent to subpoena Biden and the whistleblower. Jordan, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, has been appointed as a temporary member of the House Intelligence Committee.
“The American people understand how you have affirmatively prevented Republicans from examining serious issues directly relevant to the issues,” the two GOP lawmakers told Schiff in their letter. “Therefore, to provide some basic level of fairness and objectivity to your ‘impeachment inquiry,’ we intend to subpoena the anonymous whistleblower and Hunter Biden for sworn testimony in closed-door depositions.”
READ: GORDON SONDLAND'S IMPEACHMENT HEARING OPENING STATEMENT
Nunes and Jordan added that they plan to subpoena the whistleblower’s documents and communications regarding the complaint, the records surrounding Hunter Biden’s role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings and the Democratic National Committee’s communications with Ukrainian officials and records relating to Alexandra Chalupa.
A Ukrainian-American consultant for the Democratic National Committee, Chalupa allegedly had meetings with officials at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to discuss incriminating information about Trump campaign officials during the 2016 presidential election.
This is the second letter that Nunes has sent to Schiff that relayed his intentions to call the whistleblower and Hunter Biden.
Earlier this month, Nunes sent a similar letter to Schiff about wanting those witnesses, but it remains unclear how many of the Republicans’ proposed witnesses will be approved by Schiff. A recently approved resolution governing the impeachment inquiry gave the approval power to the chairman and the members of the majority.
"To provide transparency to your otherwise opaque and unfair process, and after consultation with [House Oversight Committee] Ranking Member Jim Jordan and [House Foreign Affairs Committee] Ranking Member Michael McCaul, the American people deserve to hear from the following witnesses in an open setting," Nunes said in his earlier letter.
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The impeachment inquiry began when a whistleblower reported that Trump had pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch a public investigation into the Biden family’s dealings in Ukraine—specifically, why former Vice President Joe Biden pressured former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to fire a top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings.
Hunter Biden worked for a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration's diplomatic dealings with Kiev. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by the former vice president or his son.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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