Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on November 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. During their meeting, Trump and Erdogan were scheduled to discuss Turkey's purchase of a Russian air defense system as well as the Turkish offensive against the Kurds in Syria.

House committees on Saturday released the closed-door transcripts of two top national security officials who listened to the July 25 phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukraine's president which is at the center of the impeachment inquiry into Trump.



The depositions are from National Security Council official Timothy Morrison and Jennifer Williams, a special advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. Morrison and Williams are both experts on Russia and European affairs.

In her deposition, Williams told the committees that she found the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to be "unusual an inappropriate." Trump asked Zelensky on that call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.



Williams said that the call "shed some light on possible other motivations" for freezing nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.

"I found the specific references to be — to be more specific to the president in nature, to his personal political agenda, as opposed to a broader…foreign policy objective of the United States," Williams said about Trump's request for investigations.

House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against the president over allegations that he violated his oath of office and jeopardized U.S. national security by asking a foreign leader to investigate a political rival for personal gain. The House concluded its first week of public impeachment hearings and additional witnesses, including Williams, will testify publicly next week.

Prior to the call, Williams said she had not heard any type of conversation in the office about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election or investigating the Bidens.

Williams also said that Trump had told Pence not to attend Zelensky's inauguration.

"My understanding from my colleague — and, again, I wasn't there for the conversation — was that the President asked the Vice President not to attend," she said.

Rudolph Giuliani's associate Lev Parnas had reportedly told the Ukrainians that they had to investigate Biden and his son, or else Pence would not go to Zelensky's swearing-in and the U.S. would freeze aid. That claim has been disputed.