Democrats ramp up demands for State Department documents in impeachment inquiry

House Democrats issued another demand for the State Department documents after several agency officials broke with the administration and testified as part of the impeachment inquiry.

Chairs of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees, which are spearheading the Ukraine probe, are looking to obtain key documents, including text messages from witnesses and any memos regarding efforts to press Ukraine to open investigations.

“These documents include information central to the inquiry’s core area of investigation: the President’s efforts to press Ukraine to initiate investigations that would benefit his personal and political interests, not the national interests,” they wrote.

One of the first key witnesses former Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker delivered text messages to the committees during his testimony a few weeks ago, that fueled the investigation by showing American and Ukrainian officials discussing the set up for the Trump-Zelensky meeting.

In those texts one diplomat, William Taylor, expressed concern about a quid pro quo, which he testified about behind closed-doors on Tuesday, telling lawmakers that both foreign aid and a White House meeting were contingent on Ukrainian President Zelensky publicly vow to open investigations that administration wanted.

Since Mr. Volker’s testimony a few witnesses have referenced documents while meeting with lawmakers, but have been blocked from delivering them.

Earlier this month, the White House sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warning her that they wouldn’t cooperate with the impeachment probe until she held a full House vote to authorize and establish equal powers for both parties.

The State Department has not complied with other subpoena deadlines issued by the committees.

House Democrats have repeatedly warned that refusing to cooperate would not only serve as more evidence of obstruction of justice — an impeachable offense — but also allow them to conclude that the withheld information would corroborate the allegations in the whistleblower report.