Impeachment hearings wind down

WASHINGTON—Lawmakers are closing out a week of investigative hearings into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council director for Russia, and David Holmes, a State Department official at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, testified Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee. Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Democrats would decide “in the coming days” on the next steps for the impeachment inquiry after hearing from a dozen witnesses.

What did Thursday’s witnesses say? Hill cautioned lawmakers against advancing a theory that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, calling such an effort “politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests.” Holmes testified that he had lunch with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland once and overheard Trump asking on the phone about “investigations” from Ukraine. Sondland reportedly replied that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would “do anything you ask him to.”

Dig deeper: Read Hill’s and Holmes’ opening statements. Plus, listen to Thursday’s edition of The World and Everything In It for a recap of Sondland’s testimony on Wednesday.