Inquiry Testimony to Extend to Weekends

House committees have begun to schedule weekend depositions in their impeachment inquiry, amid predictions the investigation’s conclusion could be pushed deeper into December than expected.

On Saturday, Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of European and Eurasian affairs with the State Department, is scheduled to appear behind closed doors before the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform committees leading the probe, according to an official familiar with the plans.

He becomes the first witness in the investigation to be scheduled on a weekend.

Reeker had previously been scheduled to testify on Wednesday. But that appearance was deferred without explanation. Reeker’s lawyers had expected the State Department to bar him from testifying, and that the committees would respond by issuing a so-called friendly subpoena.

Testimony by other witnesses that had been set for this Thursday or Friday was postponed because of ceremonies being held in honor of the late Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee.

Multiple officials familiar were saying on Monday that the crunch of remaining depositions and other aspects of the investigation were threatening to undo any possible conclusion of the investigation by Thanksgiving or the beginning of December.