In news from Capitol Hill, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, told congressional lawmakers that the White House transcript of a July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president omitted key words and phrases. Vindman was testifying as part of the ongoing impeachment hearings into whether President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Trump’s political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company. Vindman told lawmakers that the transcript of the call excluded an explicit mention of Burisma Holdings by the Ukrainian president, as well as Trump saying that there were recordings of Biden talking about Ukraine corruption. Vindman also testified that his attempts to include these omissions in the transcript failed. At moments, the closed-door testimony devolved into a screaming match as Democrats accused Republicans of trying to get Vindman to reveal the identity of the whistleblower who first reported Trump’s call.
Today, lawmakers will hear testimony from two Ukraine experts who advised former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker. On Thursday, Democrats are slated to formalize plans for the public phase of the impeachment inquiry with a vote.