Trump news: Ukraine expert says White House cut key details from Zelensky call transcript as impeachment inquiry gathers pace

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The House impeachment inquiry investigating Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine heard on Tuesday that the White House cut key details from its transcript of the 25 July call between the president and Volodymyr Zelensky, including several references to 2020 rival Joe Biden and the Ukrainian gas company his son worked for.

The behind-closed-doors testimony of National Security Council expert Alexander Vindman was described afterwards as “extremely disturbing” by one exiting congresswoman in a hearing disrupted by a shouting match that erupted when House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff reportedly accused Republicans of trying to unmask the CIA whistleblower who first sounded the alarm.

In the prepared remarks, Mr Vindman said that if Mr Zelenskiy did as Mr Trump asked in the 25 July call and investigated Mr Biden, it would “undermine US national security.”

Mr Vindman, a veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart, was the first current White House official to testify in the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, which was largely prompted by a whistleblower report on the call between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskiy.

On the call, Mr Trump pressed Mr Zelenskiy to investigate Mr Biden, a former vice president and a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination to run against Trump in 2020.

“I was concerned by the call. I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine,” Mr Vindman said in his prepared statement.

Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Mr Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Russia, told senators at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he did not know of any attempt by the president or others to press Ukraine to open a corruption probe into Joe Biden's son, Hunter.

He said he knew that Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had spearheaded a campaign to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from her post, but said he didn't know details, including why he was doing it.

"My knowledge in the spring and summer of this year about any involvement with Mr Giuliani was in connection with a campaign against our ambassador to Ukraine," Mr Sullivan said.

Mr Sullivan had the job of informing Ms Yovanovitch in late March that she was being recalled early from her post. He said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had told him only that Ms Yovanovitch had lost the confidence of the president. He said he was given no other explanation and told Ms Yovanovitch that he did not believe she had done anything to warrant her removal.

Mr Sullivan said he had reviewed a package of negative information about Ms Yovanovitch that was given to the department by "someone at the White House" after he and Mr Pompeo had inquired about complaints against her. But Mr Sullivan said he concluded it contained nothing that would warrant action against her.

"It didn't provide to me a basis for taking action against our ambassador, but I wasn't aware of all that might be going on in the background and to be cautious I asked that the packet of materials ... be looked at by the inspector general and by the Justice Department," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our live blog to load