T-minus two days until public hearings

IMPEACHMENT. 2020 ELECTION. WASHINGTON. AND MORE FROM THE POLITICS WORLD.

Monday, November 11

Then-Vice President Joe Biden and son Hunter at a basketball game in Washington in 2010.

It's bound to be a wild week in the world of the impeachment inquiry.

Happy Monday and happy Veterans Day, On Politics readers. We are grateful for those who have served our country.

It may be a federal holiday, but the countdown to public impeachment inquiry hearings on Wednesday marches on - and with it, so does the partisan bickering. Here's the latest.

GOP wants the whistleblower and Hunter Biden to testify

Saturday was the deadline for House Republicans to submit their proposed list of witnesses to Democrats. In addition to "all individuals relied upon by the anonymous whistleblower in drafting his or her secondhand complaint," Republicans asked for eight witnesses:

•	The whistleblower: The still-unnamed official who filed a whistleblower complaint after Trump's July 25 call with Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
•	Hunter Biden: The son of former Vice President Joe Biden and former board member of Burisma Holdings, Ukraine's largest gas company.
•	David Hale: The undersecretary of state for political affairs who testified behind closed doors on Nov. 6.
•	Tim Morrison: National Security Council aide who testified behind closed doors on Oct. 31.
•	Kurt Volker: Special envoy to Ukraine who testified behind closed doors on Oct. 3.
•	Nellie Ohr: A contractor for research firm Fusion GPS who worked on the Steele dossier, an unverified 2016 document compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele alleging ties between Trump and the Kremlin.
•	Devon Archer: Burisma board member Devon Archer, a business partner of Hunter Biden.
•	Alexandra Chalupa: Democratic National Committee staffer who Republicans say was part of Ukrainian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

The biggest X-factor here is, of course, the whistleblower. Andrew Bakaj, one of the whistleblower's attorneys, told USA TODAY his client was willing to answer questions from Republican lawmakers in writing but not in person. Bakaj said that he feared the request to testify publicly "was part of a larger effort to unmask my client's identity."

And then there's the case of Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, whose business dealings in Ukraine are at the center of this hoopla. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that if House Democrats "prevent the Republicans from calling their own witnesses," they would be "doubling down on stupid." Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. added: "If you can't call Hunter Biden and you can't call the whistleblower, that's sort of a sham. That's not really even a trial."

•	More: Trump's conspiracy theories thrive in Ukraine, where a young democracy battles corruption and distrust

Three more impeachment inquiry transcripts released

Two days before public testimonies are set to begin in the House's impeachment inquiry, the House Intelligence, Oversight, and Foreign Affairs Committees released the transcripts from the following witnesses late Monday:

•	Laura Cooper, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs in the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, testified Oct. 23. Cooper said during a meeting with top deputies on July 26, the day after Trump's phone call with Zelensky, it became clear the aid was being withheld as "it relates to the President's concerns about corruption."
•	Catherine Croft, a State Department employee who previously worked on issues involving Ukraine for the National Security Council, testified on Oct. 30. Croft told House investigators that she was "trepidatious" about working on the Ukraine negotiations, partly because she feared the Trump administration would politicize its policy toward Ukraine.
•	Christopher Anderson is a foreign service officer who worked for U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker until Mid July. Anderson testified that on July 13 former National Security Advisor John Bolton warned him "that Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the President on Ukraine."