House Democrats might make their impeachment inquiry public as early as mid-November, according to The Washington Post.
The committees conducting the inquiry have largely held the hearings in private thus far to prevent witnesses from coordinating testimony, but some Democrats are now pushing to make the hearings public after Republicans — many of them not on the committees — stormed the hearing room Wednesday and delayed the proceedings for several hours.
{mosads}During the public portion of the inquiry, Democrats hope to question William Taylor, the head of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, and former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. They have already questioned both in private.
Taylor testified Tuesday that nearly $400 million in military aid was contingent on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Several Democrats have also expressed a desire to hear from former national security adviser John Bolton, who was reportedly a vocal opponent of the campaign to pressure Zelensky. Bolton, who resigned last month, told the Post that he would “have my say in due course.”
“It’s going to be the difference between reading a dry transcript and actually hearing the story from the people who were in the room,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told the Post. “I think the story needs to be told, you know, the story of the abuse of power. … People like the various ambassadors who have come to testify need to come tell it.”
However, Democrats have also noted that impeachment has historically included a closed-door investigative stage followed by public proceedings.
“I think everybody just needs to be patient,” Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told the Post. “This is, in a sense, a grand-jury proceeding, and then whatever comes out of it, you present to the full body.”