The Trump Impeachment Inquiry: Latest Updates

The Trump administration directed Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, from speaking with investigators for three House committees.

The decision to block Mr. Sondland, a top American diplomat involved in its pressure campaign on Ukraine, hours before he was scheduled to sit for a deposition in the basement of the Capitol, is certain to provoke an immediate conflict. House Democrats have repeatedly warned that if the administration tries to interfere with their investigation, it will be construed as obstruction, a charge they see as potentially worthy of impeachment.

In making the decision, the Trump administration appears to be calculating that it is better off risking the House’s ire than letting Mr. Sondland show up and set a precedent for cooperation with an inquiry they have strenuously argued is illegitimate.

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump attacked the impeachment inquiry.

When Energy Secretary Rick Perry led an American delegation to the inauguration of Ukraine’s new president in May, he took the opportunity to suggest the names of Americans the new Ukrainian government might want to advise and oversee the country’s state-owned gas company.

Mr. Perry’s focus during the trip on Ukraine’s energy industry was in keeping with a push he had begun months earlier under the previous Ukrainian president, and it was consistent with United States policy of promoting anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine and greater energy independence from Russia.

But his actions during the trip have entangled him in a controversy about the pressure campaign waged by President Trump and his allies to pressure the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Mr. Trump’s rivals.

Mr. Perry’s trip raised questions about whether he was seeking to provide help to certain Americans interested in gaining a foothold in the Ukrainian energy business at a time when the new Ukrainian government was looking to the United States for signals of support in its simmering conflict with Russia.

— Kenneth P. Vogel, Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Andrew E. Kramer

Read more: Rick Perry’s Focus on Gas Company Entangles Him in Ukraine Case

  • President Trump repeatedly pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate people and issues of political concern to Mr. Trump, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Here’s a timeline of events since January.

  • A C.I.A. officer who was once detailed to the White House filed a whistle-blower complaint on Mr. Trump’s interactions with Mr. Zelensky. Read the complaint.

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