That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for November 16, 2019. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.
Pence aide says Trump's Ukraine call "unusual and inappropriate":
An aide to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has told investigators in the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry that President Donald Trump's effort to press Ukraine to open investigations into political rivals was "unusual and inappropriate."
The remarks by Jennifer Williams, a special adviser to Pence, were made public on November 16 in another batch of transcripts of previous testimony released by the Democratic-led probe into Trump's dealings with Ukraine.
The inquiry -- which could lead to impeachment proceedings and a trial in the Senate -- is probing whether Trump abused his office for personal and political gain by prodding a foreign government to investigate his foes and if those actions constitute impeachable offenses.
Williams was among the staffers who listened to a key July 25 call between Trump with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Trump pushed for Ukraine’s new president to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son. At the time, the White House was withholding military aid to the country.
In her testimony, Williams said Trump's discussion of a specific investigation with Zelenskiy seemed "unusual" to her because it was "more political in nature."
She said Trump's requests seemed linked to his "personal political agenda" as opposed to "a broader foreign-policy objective of the United States."
In a rare Saturday session, impeachment investigators also heard closed-door testimony from Mark Sandy, an official at the Office of Management and Budget who was involved in key meetings about the nearly $400 million aid package for Ukraine that approved by Congress but delayed by Trump.
Investigators want to learn from Sandy any details as to why the aid was held up.
Trump denies any wrongdoing in his dealings with Kyiv. (AP and Reuters)