Holding urgent briefing

State Department inspector general holding urgent briefing on Capitol Hill

By Jeremy Herb

The State Department inspector general is briefing congressional staff Wednesday afternoon after requesting an urgent meeting to share documents related to the State Department and Ukraine.

State inspector general Steve Linick on Tuesday asked to meet with congressional staff from eight House and Senate committees to discuss and provide documents from State's acting legal adviser related to Ukraine, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Linick declined to comment to CNN as he entered the briefing just before 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

The sudden briefing request from the State Department inspector general adds a new layer of intrigue to the House Democrats' impeachment inquiry over allegations that President Donald Trump sought help from Ukraine's government to interfere in the 2020 elections.

Linick's request was sent to Congress on Tuesday after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back on Democrats' demands to interview State Department officials as part of the impeachment investigation. Pompeo accused the committees of "intimidating and bullying" the officials by calling them for depositions, not giving them sufficient time to prepare and not allowing administration lawyers to attend.

The House Democratic chairmen shot back later Tuesday that it was Pompeo who was intimidating the State Department witnesses, charging that any attempt to prevent them from speaking to Congress "is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry."

"We are deeply concerned about Secretary Pompeo's effort now to potentially interfere with witnesses whose testimony is needed before our committee, many of whom are mentioned in the whistleblower complaint," House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said at a news conference Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Linick will brief Democratic and Republican staff in a secure setting Wednesday, from the three committees leading the impeachment investigation — House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight — as well as the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Intelligence, Foreign Relations, Homeland Security and Appropriations Committees.

The State Department inspector general has already been investigating allegations of "improper personnel practices in the office of the Secretary," though he has yet to release the findings the probe. Linick testified in July that the report -- the second of two inquiries into retaliation at the Department -- was expected to be sent to the Department in August, and he declined to discuss the findings in that hearing. Months later, that report still has not been published.

Linick is coming to Capitol Hill one day before the House panels will begin holding depositions of current and former State officials, despite Pompeo's call for the State employees not to attend.

The committees will interview former US special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker on Thursday. Volker, who was named in the whistleblower complaint about Ukraine, resigned last week and is no longer a State Department employee.

Next week, the former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who is still a State Department employee, is scheduled to appear on Friday, according to an aide, after an agreement was reached between the committees and her counsel. The committees have also scheduled depositions with three other State Department officials next week, although it's not yet been confirmed that they will appear.

The depositions come as the House is swiftly moving to investigate following a whistleblower complaint released last week involving Trump's contacts with Ukraine that alleges that Trump attempted to "solicit interference from a foreign country" in the 2020 election and the White House tried to cover it up.

A rough transcript of the President's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows Trump urged him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.

In addition to the depositions, the committees are ramping up their investigation with subpoenas. House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings announced Wednesday he plans to issue a subpoena to the White House on Friday if the White House will not voluntarily provide a host of documents related to the President's call and the holding up of foreign aid money to Ukraine. The House Intelligence Committee on Monday issued a subpoena to the President's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has been pushing the Biden investigation, while the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week sent a subpoena to the State Department for documents.

Giuliani tweeted Wednesday that he was threatening to "seek redress against Congress and individual members" over attempting to remove the President on "deliberately falsified charges."

The President, meanwhile, has been on a Twitter barrage of his own, attacking Pelosi, Schiff and Democrats for moving forward with their impeachment inquiry.

"He should be forced to resign from Congress, Adam Schiff, he's a lowlife," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Finland's President on Wednesday, adding that Schiff took a "perfect" conversation and "realized he couldn't read it to Congress" because it was so nice.