House investigators release deposition transcripts taken as part of impeachment inquiry

WASHINGTON - House investigators on Monday released the first transcripts from closed-door depositions taken as part of the impeachment inquiry as four White House officials, including John Eisenberg, a lawyer central to the Ukraine controversy, defied subpoenas to testify.

The refusals to cooperate are coming on a day in which Trump tweeted that he sees "no reason" for lawmakers to summon witnesses regarding his July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he again contended was "perfect."

House Democrats are encountering renewed stonewalling from the White House as they attempt to move deeper into the ranks of officials with knowledge of Trump's efforts to press Ukraine's president to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden at a time when U.S. military aid was being withheld from that country.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called the four officials who declined to appear on Monday "first-hand witnesses to serious misconduct" and said that their absence was further evidence of Trump trying to obstruct Congress.

"These witnesses are significant, and the White House understands they are significant," Schiff told reporters. "We may infer by the White House obstruction here that their testimony would be further incriminating to the president."

In addition to Eisenberg, the three other witnesses summoned are: Robert Blair, a senior adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; Brian McCormack, an Office of Management and Budget official; and Michael Ellis, another White House lawyer.

Meanwhile, House investigators released the transcripts of two closed-door depositions taken as part of the impeachment inquiry. Records of the Oct. 11 testimony of Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and the Oct. 16 testimony of P. Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, were made public shortly before noon Monday.

The transcripts are the first in a series that Democrats say will be released as the inquiry becomes more public.

A divided House last week voted to approved guidelines for the public phase of the probe, clearing the way for nationally televised hearings in mid-November and ensuring Trump's right to participate in the latter stage of the proceedings unless he tries to block witnesses from testifying.

"As we move towards this new public phase of the impeachment inquiry, the American public will begin to see for themselves the evidence that the committees have collected," the three Democratic House chairmen leading the inquiry said in a joint statement. "With each new interview, we learn more about the President's attempt to manipulate the levers of power to his personal political benefit."

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. and acting Oversight and Reform Committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said in the statement that the Yovanovitch and McKinley transcripts "demonstrate clearly how President Trump approved the removal of a highly respected and effective diplomat based on public falsehoods and smears against Ambassador Yovanovitch's character and her work in support of long-held U.S. foreign policy anticorruption goals."

House Democrats wanted to question Eisenberg, the deputy counsel on the National Security Council, about what transpired after Trump's July 25 call with Zelensky, which set off internal debate over Trump's actions.

Eisenberg proposed moving a transcript of the call to a highly classified server and restricting access to it, according to two people familiar with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.

An attorney for Eisenberg said in a letter to House committee chairmen that Eisenberg is not appearing Monday because he was not given reasonable time to prepare and because Trump instructed him not to cooperate.

The attorney, William Burck, said a subpoena was emailed to Eisenberg on Friday night.

"This is insufficient and unreasonable notice and imposes an undue burden on Mr. Eisenberg, especially in light of his legal and national security responsibilities in the White House," Burck wrote. "Even if Mr. Eisenberg had been afforded a reasonable amount of time to prepare, the President has instructed Mr. Eisenberg not to appear at the deposition."

Burck also referenced a pending court case regarding testimony from another witness who declined to appear, citing conflicting guidance from Congress and the White House.

"Mr. Eisenberg, as a lawyer and officer of the court, will abide by whatever final decision the federal judiciary reaches on the dispute between the Executive and Congress," Burck wrote.

Trump, meanwhile, plans to welcome the Washington Nationals to the White House on Monday afternoon before heading to Kentucky for a campaign rally.

The Washington Post’s Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.