Democratic leaders offered a full-throated defense of their growing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, suggesting that attempts to stonewall it will be considered obstruction of justice.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California opened the press conference seeking to demonstrate that Democrats are simultaneously investigating the president while also pursuing bipartisan legislation. She also defended Democrats' decision to move forward with an inquiry even though she sees impeachment as divisive. Democrats are investigating claims from an intelligence community whistleblower that Trump sought to leverage the power of his office to pressure Ukraine's president to look into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

"We are legislating...investigating and litigating. We take this to be a very sad time," Pelosi said. "I don't see impeachment as a unifying thing for this country."

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California joined Pelosi and discussed the timeline of recent subpoenas to Trump officials and allies related to Ukraine. He also expressed deep concerns about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's admission that he was listening in on Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Schiff argued that continued efforts by the White House to stonewall Congress will help build their case that the administration is obstructing their legislative duties.

"We will also draw the inference as appropriate that they're trying to conceal facts that would corroborate the whistleblower complaint so we'll have to decide whether to litigate or how to litigate. We're not fooling around here though. We don't want this to drag on for months and months and months," Schiff told reporters on Wednesday.

"If they try to undermine our ability to find the facts around the president's effort to coerce a forigen leader to create dirt against a political opponent, then they will be strengthening the case on obstruction if they behave that way."

Schiff noted that Kurt Volker, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who abruptly resigned last week, will testify behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

Trump appeared to be watching the press conference and tweeted sharp criticisms of both Pelosi and Schiff. He plans to hold a news conference later Wednesday.

"Nancy Pelosi just said that she is interested in lowering prescription drug prices & working on the desperately needed USMCA," Trump said referring to legislation to lower drug prices and the ongoing negotiations of a new trade deal.