Democratic Rep. Jim Himes said getting the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani’s testimony would be a massive boon for the impeachment inquiry.
As a member of the House Intelligence committee, Mr. Himes believes the investigation can be done without Mr. Giuliani’s cooperation, but he remains at the “very core” of the allegations that the administration used military aid to leverage a foreign ally to investigate the Biden family.
“While I guess we could sort of piece together exactly what happened based on what the administration has disclosed, I really think it’s important to talk to Rudy Giuliani,” Mr. Himes said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
On Tuesday, the former New York City mayor defied a Congressional subpoena to turn over documents related to the Ukraine investigation.
Mr. Giuliani has become one of the central figures in the impeachment inquiry, as he worked to push Ukraine to open an investigation into Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Though the Connecticut Democrat floated the end of the year as the goal for wrapping up the investigation, he acknowledged there’s no hard date yet “because, of course, every single day we’re presented with sort of jaw dropping new information.”
He said the committee wants to look more into the decision to remove former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch from her post and who knew about the delayed aid.
Mr. Himes also defended his party’s closed-door approach to the impeachment inquiry, comparing it — like other members of Democratic leadership have — to special prosector investigations into the Clinton and Nixon allegations.
“What is happening is that there is no way for the Republicans to defend the actions of the president here,” he said. “So as a result what they’re doing is that they’re attacking the process.”
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.