authorize and structure proceedings for an impeachment inquiry.[1]
One significant difference, however, was that in this instance the House was conducting and would continue to conduct its own factfinding and collection of evidence through its investigative committees. As HPSCI has explained, "[u]nlike in the cases of Presidents Nixon and Clinton, the House conducted a significant portion of the factual investigation itself because no independent prosecutor was appointed to investigate President Trump's conduct."[2] Nevertheless, H. Res. 660 set forth detailed procedures that resulted in maximal transparency during the ongoing fact-finding stage of the investigation and provided numerous privileges for President Trump and his counsel. The procedures entailed two stages for the public-facing phase of the impeachment inquiry: the first before HPSCI and the second before the Judiciary Committee.
First, HPSCI was authorized to conduct open hearings during which the Chairman and Ranking Member had extended equal time to question witnesses or permit their counsels to do so.[3] The Ranking Member was also permitted to identify and request witnesses and to issue subpoenas for documents and witness testimony with the concurrence of the Chairman, with the option to refer subpoena requests for a vote before the full Committee if the Chairman declined to concur.[4] H. Res. 660 further directed HPSCI to issue a report describing its findings and to make that report available to the public, and to transmit that report along with any supplemental materials and Minority views to the Judiciary Committee.[5]
Pursuant to H. Res. 660, HPSCI held five days of public hearings during which twelve current or former Trump Administration officials testified. These witnesses spoke in extensive detail about President Trump's repeated and prolonged efforts to pressure Ukraine into announcing and conducting baseless investigations into the President's political rival and into a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. They also testified regarding United States policy interests regarding Ukraine, the value and strategic importance of the military and security assistance and the diplomatic visit to the White House that the President withheld from Ukraine, and the actions taken by individuals on the President's behalf in aid of his misconduct. In addition, the Investigating Committees received from certain witnesses hundreds of text messages as well as contemporaneous emails corroborating their testimony. The majority of witnesses maintained, however, that because they were government employees their documents and communications remained the property of Executive Branch offices and agencies. These offices and agencies, based on the President's direction, instructed officials not to provide any materials pursuant to the Investigating Committees' subpoenas.
Three of the witnesses who testified during the public hearings—Ambassador Kurt D. Volker,
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