Impeachment testimony comes from White House budget official

House impeachment investigators are hearing from a White House budget official in closed-door testimony at the Capitol. Lawmakers convened on Saturday to interview Mark Sandy. He’s the first official from the Office of Management and Budget to defy President Donald Trump’s instructions not to testify. Like other witnesses in the investigation, Sandy was expected to receive a congressional subpoena to appear.

Investigators are eager to hear from Sandy as they scrutinize the administration’s decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine. The holdup of that assistance came as Trump was asking Ukraine’s new president to investigate Democrats and Trump's political rival, Joe Biden. That request is central to the impeachment inquiry. Trump says he did nothing wrong.

More public hearings in the House are scheduled for this coming week.

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Trump on impeachment

Trump said Thursday that the impeachment probe has been very hard on his family, even as he tried to flex his political muscle to flip the governor's mansion in deep-red Louisiana. Speaking in friendly territory in a state he carried in 2016 by 20 percentage points, Trump lashed out at Democratic investigators and what he called a deranged impeachment witch hunt. While arguing it was a political boon for his reelection, he acknowledged for the first time a personal toll from the impeachment process that stands to cloud his legacy.

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I have one problem, Trump said. Impeachment to me is a dirty word, it's been very unfair, very hard on my family. The House began public impeachment hearings Wednesday. Trump repeated his denials of wrongdoing in his dealings with Ukraine, asserting he had no need to ask that nation to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his family.

We took down Bush, Clinton, Obama, with no experience, but I had you and we won, Trump said of his 2016 victory. Think about that and then think about me 'gee, let's get some help from Ukraine in order to beat sleepy Joe Biden.' I don't think so. He added the people of this country aren't buying it," claiming polls show a benefit to Republicans as Democrats focus on impeachment.

"We did nothing wrong, Trump insisted, and they're doing nothing."

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(With agency inputs)