Article snippet: House Democrats released three new transcripts from closed-door depositions Monday as they charge toward the open hearing phase of their impeachment inquiry later this week. The release included the transcript of Laura Cooper, a top Defense Department official who oversees Ukraine. She testified about the Trump administration's decision to withhold nearly $400 million in aid, which Democrats are examining as part of their investigation into whether MORE pressed Ukraine to help his own reelection bid in 2020. Democrats also released the transcripts from joint depositions with Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson, two former assistants to former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker. While all three are relatively minor witnesses, they offered information for House investigators who are trying to determine whether Trump used the aid or the promise of a White House meeting as leverage to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open probes into interference in the 2016 presidential election and former Vice President MORE, one of his top 2020 political rivals. Democrats subpoenaed Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, late last month to press her about any role the Pentagon may have played in withholding aid to Ukraine. Cooper's testimony was primarily memorable for a GOP protest that delayed it. A group of congressional Republicans protesting the closed-door depositions disrupted the scheduled hearing by stormin... Link to the full article to read more