The Democrats in the US House of Representatives have called Vice President Mike Pence under threat of punishment for publishing all documents, emails and recordings that have to do with the government's policy towards Ukraine.
As the chairmen of the three committees investigating the affair said, Pence would have to submit the information by 15 October. If he does not comply with the request, it is considered as obstructing the investigation into the possible impeachment of President Trump, it said.
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The point is to clarify the role of the Vice President and his staff in dealing with Ukraine since the beginning of the year, said the Chair. Among other things, they requested information about two telephone conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj, including internal communication with other government agencies.
In addition, MEPs demanded all information on several meetings that were the subject of Ukraine and all documents granting US aid to the Ukrainian military.
The Democrats had been preparing for impeachment proceedings against Trump last week over the Ukraine affair. Trump has come under massive pressure since it was revealed that he had urged Selenskyj to investigate his rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter in a telephone conversation in late July.
The Inspector General of Intelligence, Michael Atkinson, spoke on Friday to congressmen. Atkinson had been instrumental in making the Ukraine affair known by briefing Congress on a whistleblower's complaint about Trump's phone conversation with Ukrainian President Selenskyj.
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On Thursday, Trump had also asked China to investigate. The Democrats see Trump's efforts to win the 2020 election with the help of a foreign government.
Trump suspects Joe Biden and his son Hunter without any evidence of involvement in corruption in Ukraine and China. Nobody has "any doubt that they were fraudulent," he claimed.
According to Trump, Hunter Biden is said to have used his father's trip to get $ 1.5 billion in China for the fund. A spokesman for Hunter Biden told the NBC News channel that he had invested in the stock funds himself years after the trip to China.