Testimony from two of Trump's Ukraine policymakers to become public

Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, told reporters on Monday that transcripts would be released of interviews with Kurt Volker,Trump'sformer special representative forUkrainenegotiations, and Gordon Sondland, the USambassador to the European Union.

Witnesses have testified that Volker and Sondland, withTrump'ssecretary of energy, Rick Perry, were known as the "three amigos," responsible forTrump'sunofficial channel to Ukrainian government officials.

Volker resigned as special representative in September. He testified to the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight panels for more than eight hours behind closed doors on October3.

Sondland, a major Trump donor, testified on October17.

Perry, a former Texas governor who said he was resigningfromhis Cabinet post as of December1, has refused to date to testify.

Tuesday's will be the secondpublicrelease oftestimonyin the impeachment investigation of Trump that Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally launched on September24.

On Monday, the committees released transcripts oftestimonyby Marie Yovanovitch, whom Trump abruptly recalled as ambassador toUkrainein May, and Michael McKinley, a former top adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

In their interviews, Yovanovitch and McKinley said the State Department was being used for domestic political purposes under Trump and warned that would hurt American interests.

The House investigation is focused on a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic rival as Trump seeks re-election in November 2020.

Trump froze nearly $400 million in USmilitary assistance toUkraineshortly before speaking to Zelenskiy, prompting accusationsfromDemocrats that he had misused USforeign policy for personal gain.

Strongly backed by his fellow Republicans in Congress, Trump has denied wrongdoing and accused Democrats of unfairly targeting him in the hope of reversing his surprise election victory in 2016.

The committees began releasing interview transcripts as they prepare forpublichearings that could start this month.

According to accounts of theirtestimonyalreadypublic, both Sondland and Volker discussed communications betweenTrump'sprivate attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and Ukrainian officials with House investigators.

Volker turned over text messages concerningUkraineamong himself, Giuliani and other diplomats.

Sondland testified that Trump directed him, Perry and Volker to talk to Giuliani about his concerns about corruption inUkraineand that the three were dismayed by that order.

He said he did not understand "until much later" that Giuliani's agenda included a push forUkraineto investigate Biden. Sondland also said it would be wrong to get a foreign government to launch investigations in order to influence a U.S. election.

The committees have also scheduled more closed-doortestimonyon TuesdayfromMichael Duffey, associate director of the White House budget office, and Wells Griffith, senior director for international energy and the environment on the White House National Security Council.

Officials have said they do not expect either to appear, after four White House witnesses failed to testify on Monday.

Schiff said the failure of the witnesses to show up was more evidence against Trump. "This will only further add to the body of evidence on a potential obstruction of Congress charge against the president," Schiff told reporters.