Four key witnesses will testify publicly before the House Intelligence Committee today as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
This isn't the first time they will be testifying before lawmakers.
Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council aide, Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a National Security Council aide, previously met with members of Congress for closed-door depositions on Capitol Hill.
Here's what we know about them:
- About Williams: She told lawmakers she had been in the White House Situation Room listening to Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in real time. She testified that Trump's request for specific investigations struck her as "unusual and inappropriate" and "shed some light on possible other motivations" for his decision to freeze security aid to Ukraine.
- About Vindman: The White House's top Ukraine expert expressed concerns about Trump's phone call with Ukraine's president. Vindman, a decorated veteran who was born in Ukraine, told lawmakers that he reported concerns about Trump's July 25 call with the leader of Ukraine to the top National Security Council lawyer within hours, and said some of the changes he tried to make to the since-published transcript were left out, though he didn't say why.
- About Volker: In his own testimony, Volker said that the Ukrainians had asked to be put in touch with Giuliani — whose efforts have been described by other witnesses as a shadow foreign policy outside of State Department channels — because they believed "that information flow would reach the President." He said he had been surprised and troubled by what was said on the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky.
- About Morrison: He told lawmakers that Gordon Sondland, the American envoy to the European Union, was acting at Trump's instruction in his dealings with Ukraine, and Sondland said that the President told him Zelensky "must announce the opening of the investigations," according to a transcript of his deposition released Saturday.