WASHINGTON – Two State Department officials with expertise on Ukraine appeared on Wednesday before lawmakers leading the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson testified before the House Oversight, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees. Opening statements given by their attorney indicate that both were served with subpoenas to testify.

Both worked under former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who has emerged as a key witness in the impeachment investigation.

Croft's background includes work on Ukraine for both the State Department and the National Security Council. Similarly, Anderson's resume includes working at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

Follow along for the latest impeachment updates on Wednesday:

More:Trump impeachment inquiry: Read the opening statements from diplomats Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson

House panel OKs inquiry rules; resolution heads to the full House

The House Rules Committee approved the resolution outlining impeachment procedures by party-line vote of 9-4, sending the measure to the House floor for a full vote on Thursday.

The approval came after hours of Republicans on the 13-member panel proposed more than a dozen changes to the measure, asking for more powers, access and rights for the president and his counsel as the impeachment inquiry moves into the next phase.

All were rejected by Democrats, who hold the majority.

“We’re going to the floor with a process that we had absolutely zero input in,” Rep. Tom Cole, the top Republican on the panel said. “I’m not pleased with the process.”

At the end of the meeting, Cole argued that it was a “sad thing” that impeachment would begin with partisanship and argued that during impeachment efforts targeting former presidents Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon, there was bipartisan approval on how the process would work.

“We’re starting in a very different place,” he said.

Democrats argued repeatedly that the powers afforded to Republicans and the president throughout this process echoed precedent during the impeachments of Clinton and Nixon – and in some cases they had even more powers then previous efforts. Democrats noted the ongoing hearings in the House Intelligence Committee, which is the lead panel investigating President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, were only being done because unlike past impeachments, there is no special investigator tasked with examining this issue and the Justice Department has not appointed one.

"We don't have a Ken Starr. We don't have a special prosecutor building a case," Committee Chairman Jim McGovern said, pointing to the independent counsel who investigated Clinton. “These committees are building the case.”

The full House vote on the resolution is scheduled for Thursday morning.

Anderson concludes testimony as Bolton asked to testify

Anderson finished talking to congressional members and staff after about three and a half hours of testimony.

He did not answer questions as he left the Capitol.

Anderson departs as former national security adviser John Bolton has been asked to testify before the committees on Nov. 7, according to an official with knowledge of the proceedings. The request does not guarantee he will appear, however.

When asked if Bolton would be subpoenaed to compel his testimony, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., would not comment, but said, "We certainly hope that he will cooperate. He obviously has very relevant evidence to provide."

Members of Congress gather to debate impeachment resolution

Democrats and Republicans got their first chance to face-off on impeachment Wednesday as they bickered over a resolution outlining procedures for the impeachment inquiry as it moves forward to its next phase, which will be in public.

The 13-member House Rules Committee, featuring nine Democrats and four Republicans, crammed into a small room with blue and gold walls to weigh a number of proposed GOP changes to the eight-page resolution.

“This is a sad day,” Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said opening the hearing. “I never wanted our country to get to this point.”

The committee, which normally doesn’t attract widespread attention or headlines, fought over subpoena powers for Republicans, due-process rights for the president, how impeachment has been handled historically and plans for public hearings in the House Intelligence Committee.

Reporters stood outside the room, hoping for access that was only granted to a handful of journalists who could fit into the small room that features a large crystal chandelier flanked by two smaller chandeliers. Staff members for lawmakers lined the walls and photographers sat on the floor cross-legged.

What role did Trump play?

Speaking to reporters, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said the testimony from diplomats and national security officials showed that civil servants wanted to “separate themselves from having anything to do with” what he called the “shadowy, sordid Giuliani efforts” in Ukraine.

“It is my strong impression that she made it very clear she wished to be separated from that mess,” he said of Croft.

Asked what role he thought President Donald Trump played in the pressure campaign, Connolly suggested he played a direct role.

“Given the relationship between Mr. Giuliani and President Trump, one has to assume all of this had the approbation, if not the actual initiation of the President himself.”

“If I were an enterprising reporter. I would spend a little time on the issue of Javelin missiles,” he added, alluding to the security aid withheld from Ukraine.

﻿Anderson is up next

‪Croft walked out after a little more than five hours of testimony. She did not make any comments or answer questions as she walked away. Anderson has arrived shortly after for his time with the House Oversight, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence Committees. He did not make any remarks as he entered the secure room in the Capitol basement.

Officials tried to stay away from 'sordid Giuliani efforts,' Connolly says

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., told reporters he thought the president played a direct role in the pressure campaign put on Ukraine by his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

"Given the relationship between Mr. Giuliani and President Trump, one has to assume all of this had the approbation, if not the actual initiation of the President himself," he said.

Connolly said the testimony from diplomats and national security officials showed that civil servants wanted to 'separate themselves from having anything to do with" what he called the "shadowy, sordid Giuliani efforts."

"It is my strong impression that she made it very clear she wished to be separated from that mess," he said of Croft.

Pelosi: Time for Republicans to put country over party

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded the previous witnesses in a Wednesday morning tweet.

"We’ve learned so much about Trump’s months-long campaign to pressure Ukraine because military veterans & his own national security aides stood up to tell the truth," she wrote.

She also called for Republicans to "do the same" as the witnesses.

"They put their country ahead of everything else. It’s not too late for Republicans in Congress to do the same," she continued.

Trump impeachment inquiry:Read the opening statements from diplomats Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson

A lobbyist said Ukraine ambassador should be fired

According to a copy of her opening statement obtained by USA TODAY, Croft says that during her time at the National Security Council, she received "multiple calls from lobbyist Robert Livingston, who told me that Ambassador Yovanovitch should be fired."

Croft plans to say Livingston, a former congressman from Louisiana, "characterized Ambassador Yovanovitch as an 'Obama holdover' and associated with George Soros."

She was unaware who directed Livingston to reach out to her, but she reported the calls to her superiors.

Yovanovitch was the American ambassador to Ukraine who had told Congress she had been ousted following Trump's pressure to remove her.

More:Ex-Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch tells lawmakers Trump 'pressured' State Department to remove her

She plans to say she was unaware of a hold on aid to Ukraine until a July 18 video conference with the Office of Management and Budget, where she was informed a hold was placed on security assistance to Ukraine, stemming from an order "at the direction of the President."

Anderson, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by USA TODAY, will say that National Security Adviser John Bolton said Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who took part in a pressure campaign in Ukraine, "could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement."

At a June 18 meeting at the Department of Energy on Ukraine, Anderson says there were "vague discussions in the meeting about how to address Mr. Giuliani’s continued calls for a corruption investigation."

Both he and head Ukraine diplomat William Taylor agreed it was important not to ask the Ukrainians to commit to specific investigations like those Giuliani had called for.

Anderson and Croft's insight could be helpful to Democrats hoping to learn more about the dual strategies that the U.S. was taking on Ukraine — the official one and the operation that multiple officials have told lawmakers hinged on the country investigating a political rival of the president.

The two diplomats still plan to appear before congressional committees despite attempts by the Trump administration to block various witnesses Democrats have called before them, including one witness earlier this week who filed a lawsuit in hopes that the courts could help guide witnesses as the legislative and executive branch face off.

Article II of the Constitution:Trump's 'right to do whatever I want?' Or a road map for impeachment?

Impeachment inquiry resolution:House resolution outlines public phase of impeachment inquiry, gives GOP subpoena powers

Testimony follows that of a 'concerned' Ukraine expert

The two are scheduled to follow Tuesday's testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an Army officer and the Trump administration's top Ukraine expert who in prepared testimony said he was "concerned" by Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — which helped launch the impeachment inquiry after it was discovered the president brought up military aid for the country then asked about an investigation into Joe Biden, a Democratic foe.

'I was concerned': Trump's top Ukraine expert to tell impeachment investigators he reported troubling conduct twice to superiors

Later on Wednesday, the House Rules Committee will examine a resolution that sets procedures for the House's impeachment inquiry as it moves into the next phase — which will be public. The full House could vote on the resolution as early as Thursday.

Republicans have attacked the resolution, calling it unfair to them and the president. The hearing is expected to be contentious, allowing Republicans and Democrats to face-off in front of cameras on the impeachment effort.