US President Donald Trump (L) and US Vice President Mike Pence at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
House Democrats on Friday demanded that Vice President Mike Pence turn over documents related to President Donald Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president at the heart of their rapidly unfolding impeachment probe.
The request for documents was made in a letter sent to the vice president and provided a deadline of Oct. 15. It was signed by the chairmen of the committees on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight.
The letter follows a report published in The Washington Post on Tuesday that revealed that Pence’s national security advisor was on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that sparked the impeachment inquiry.
Trump urged Zelensky on the call to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden, the former vice president. On Thursday, CNN reported that Pence was provided a transcript of the phone call the day after it took place. A source told CNN that Pence “may or may have not read it.”
Citing the public reporting, the committee chairmen wrote in the letter that it “remains unclear to what extent you had knowledge of the specific aspects of some of these events.”
The committees requested a broad range of documents related to Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, as well as second call that took place in April.
The Democrats asked for all “recordings, transcripts, notes,” of the calls as well as the names of all the people who were on the calls or who had a role in transcribing them. They also requested all communications related to the calls between current or formal officials in the White House, the Department of Justice, the Department of State, the Department of Energy, and the various intelligence agencies.
The committee chairmen warned Pence in the letter that failure to turn over the documents they requested “shall constitute evidence of obstruction” in the impeachment inquiry.
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