Senior State Department official testifies in impeachment probe
WASHINGTON — House impeachment investigators met Saturday for a rare weekend session to question a high-ranking State Department official about his knowledge of what other witnesses have described as a shadow foreign policy intended to pressure Ukraine for President Trump’s personal political gain.
The official, Philip Reeker, is acting assistant secretary in charge of European and Eurasian Affairs. He oversaw officials who interacted directly with Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters, at a time when Ukraine was being pressed to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and unproven theories about Democratic collusion with Ukrainians in the 2016 presidential election.
Reeker, who is answering questions behind closed doors, should be able to provide investigators with additional details about at least one aspect of the unfolding story: the ouster last spring of Marie Yovanovitch, a career foreign service officer, as the ambassador to Ukraine.
But it is unclear how much he knew about what others have called demands by Trump that the new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, publicly announce an investigation of the Biden family before Trump would agree to meet Zelenskiy or to release $391 million in military aid.
Like others who have testified so far, Reeker, 54, is a longtime diplomat. Congressional committees subpoenaed him to testify after the State Department instructed Reeker not to comply voluntarily, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The unusual weekend interview indicated that a fast-moving inquiry could be accelerating as it enters its second month. House Democrats have so far scheduled four more depositions with potentially consequential witnesses in the coming week, and they may conduct more than one a day in an effort to clear the way for a more...