By Veronica Rocha, Meg Wagner and Amanda Wills, CNN
Tim Morrison, a former National Security Council aide, said he feared how the disclosure of the July 25 call between President Trump and the Ukrainian president would play out in Washington's climate.
"My fears have been realized. I understand the gravity of these proceedings but beg you not to lose sighted of the military conflict underway in eastern Ukraine today," he said.
Morrison went on to say that he left the NSC on his own, and felt no pressure to resign.
Watch:
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the Ukraine affair has “no intelligence component whatsoever." He also suggested Democrats were holding these hearings at the House Intelligence Committee because they lost confidence in the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler.
One thing to note: Nunes failed to mention that the Ukraine affair came to light after a whistleblower from the US intelligence community raised concerns about President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. The inspector general for the intelligence community deemed the complaint to be “urgent” and accurate, and shared it with the House Intelligence Committee, as is required by law. Clearly, it is an intelligence matter.
Nunes was right to point out that impeachment hearings are typically held under the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats have indicated that the judiciary committee will take the reins after the intelligence committee finishes their hearings and sums everything up in a public report.
From CNN's Manu Raju
Multiple GOP sources say they are most worried about what EU ambassador Gordon Sondland will do tomorrow — and whether he will turn on the President.
The fear, Republicans say, is that he could undercut the last GOP defense: That no one heard Trump directly tie military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an announcement of investigations.
Republicans plan to question his credibility if he goes that route.
But at the moment, lawmakers don’t know if he will further revise his testimony tomorrow.
Kurt Volker, former US special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a former National Security Council aide, were just sworn in at this afternoon's hearing before the House Intelligence Committee.
They'll now give their opening statements.
GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted today's hearings in his opening remarks.
"Welcome back to Act II of today's circus, ladies and gentlemen. We are here to continue what the Democrats tell us is a serious, somber and even prayerful process of attempting to overthrow a duly elected president," Nunes said.
He went on to say that Democrats are looking to accuse the President of any crime.
"Who knows what ridiculous crime they'll be accusing him of next week?" Nunes said.
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff is using his opening statement to read from Kurt Volker’s own text messages.
The texts were among the first documents produced to the committee as part of the impeachment investigation.
Why the texts matter: Some of the messages indicate that Volker made it clear to a Ukrainian official that they wouldn’t get a White House visit without launching Trump’s desired investigations.
You can read a full breakdown of the texts here.
The second hearing of the day has just started on Capitol Hill.
Former US special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and former National Security Council aide Tim Morrison will be testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.
Volker and Morrison have already testified behind closed doors as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
Here's what they told lawmakers during their depositions:
From CNN's Katelyn Polantz
The House Judiciary Committee is planning to hold hearings on impeaching the President that expand past the current Ukraine hearing soon after they conclude. The committee hopes that former White House counsel Don McGahn will be forced to testify at that time, according to a new court filing.
The House has asked a federal judge to make a ruling quickly on whether McGahn must testify in the House impeachment inquiry, citing a “finite window of time” when he’s needed.
“The Judiciary Committee anticipates holding hearings after HPSCI’s public hearings have concluded and would aim to obtain Mr. McGahn’s testimony at that time. Thus, there is an urgent need for final resolution of the matter now pending before this Court,” the House wrote to the judge in a new court filing.
The House’s letter to the court points out that it is considering impeaching the President for obstruction of justice, for which McGahn would be a key witness. This is because he spoke to special counsel Robert Mueller for that obstruction investigation, and for lying to Mueller, after testimony at Roger Stone’s criminal trial raised questions about Trump’s written answers to investigators about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Remember: Those investigations are separate from the current investigation regarding Ukraine, which has been the focus of the House over the past few weeks.
The House says it has an “urgent need for Defendant Donald McGahn’s testimony for use in the House’s impeachment inquiry and the mounting broader ramifications of a ruling in this case for that quickly progressing inquiry,” the House wrote to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Tuesday. Jackson already has heard arguments on whether she can intervene in the fight between the White House and the House, and is poised to rule.
The White House stopped McGahn from testifying last spring, citing “absolute immunity” over its high-level former officials.
From CNN's Clare Foran
The House of Representatives just passed a short-term funding bill in an effort to avert a government shutdown before funds expire later in the week.
The vote was 231-192.
The stop-gap legislation, known as a continuing resolution, will extend funding through December 20, setting up another spending deadline on the eve of the winter holidays. The current deadline for funding is Thursday.
This afternoon's impeachment inquiry hearing with Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison had been delayed while the House voted.
What happens next: It will next need to be taken up by the Senate and then signed by the President to prevent a shutdown. The expectation is that if the House and Senate both pass a funding bill, the President will sign it.