State Department IG expected to give congressional staffers urgent briefing on Ukraine

On Tuesday, Steve Linick, the State Department's inspector general, requested an urgent briefing with senior congressional staffers, CNN reports.

The staffers told CNN the briefing will be private, and Linick reportedly asked for the meeting after his office obtained documents from the State Department's acting legal adviser. It's unclear what information he will provide; one congressional aide told CNN the request was "highly unusual and cryptically worded."

The request came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said State Department officials set to testify in the House impeachment inquiry are being bullied and should not appear before Congress. The House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight committees have scheduled five depositions in relation to the inquiry, which was sparked by a whistleblower complaint filed in response to President Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the call, which Pompeo was reportedly listening in on, Trump asked Zelensky to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

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Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, is set to appear before the committees on Thursday. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was scheduled to testify on Wednesday, but will now appear next Friday instead, congressional staffers told CNN. In the complaint, the whistleblower said that on the day after Trump's call with Zelensky, Volker and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland met with Zelensky and told him how to "navigate" Trump's requests. Volker resigned from his role last week. Read more at CNN.