Washington D.C.- According to CBS, Democrats have released two transcripts from a former U. S. Special Envoy and a U. S. Ambassador.
The transcripts released show the testimony of Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland. These hearings were done in response to documents released by a U. S. whistleblower that claim President Trump asked for President Zelensky of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into the Bidens, and other reports that allege Ukraine officials interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections.
The hearings were held by the Intelligence Committee and the transripts released from the hearing discuss Sondlad's congressional subpoena after the State Department attempted to prevent Sondland from testifying according to the his transcript.
"Allow me to begin by stressing that you and the American people can be reassured and proud that the Department of State and the Department of Defense," Volker began in his opening statement and continued to say they, "have conducted themselves with the highest degree of professionalism, integrity, and dedication to the national interest."
Volker had revoked his claim that his name being attached to the whistleblower documents prevented him from fulfilling his job as an envoy.
"In carrying out this role I at some state found myself faced with a choice: to be aware of a problem and to ignore it, or rather to accept that it was my responsibility to try to fix it." said Volker in the hearing.
Some ranking members were allowed to speak, such as Republican Jim Jordan who had used his time to raise questions about the timing and methods of democratic officials. Jordan also spoke about his concerns regarding what this impeachment process will do for the upcoming 2020 election.
Jordan's concerns for the election call back to a statement Phil Scott had given discussing the impeachment inquiry during a press conference in early October.
"What I support was the inquiry," said Scott, "This is really about lets get the facts and lets see where we go from there and not use this as a political tool to alter the next election."