This article is part of David Leonhardt’s newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday.

Earlier this week, my colleague Nicholas Kristof interviewed Representative Adam Schiff — the Democrat leading the impeachment inquiry — at a public event in New York. Toward the end, Nicholas asked about the inquiry’s apparent lack of transparency so far:

“This is something that you’ve been criticized for on the right. The Wall Street Journal had an editorial today complaining that the hearings are closed. Some Republicans have asked for full transcripts to be made available and have complained that things are being cherry-picked and leaked. And [an audience member] asks, ‘How can we win public opinion if the key testimony for impeachment are private?’”

I raised a version of the same question in my column this week, and so I was glad to hear Schiff’s answer to Nicholas — and, even more so, to see the public letter that Schiff has since released. In both, he explained why the initial stage of the investigation has taken place largely behind closed doors but also indicated that it will eventually include public hearings.

“We’re doing these initial hearings in closed session, and it makes a lot of sense to do that when you’re conducting an investigation because I’m sure the White House would like nothing more than to be able to get their stories straight by hearing what these witnesses have to say,” Schiff said. “And there are good and important investigative reasons not to let one witness know what another witness has said.”