The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, in a Saturday letter to Shiff cited by the Daily Caller, said that any “failure to fulfill Minority witness requests shall constitute evidence of your denial of fundamental fairness and due process”.
According to the media report, the GOP has provided detailed explanation as one of the conditions for why these particular eight individuals are necessary to the impeachment probe.
Number one on the list is Hunter Biden. The son of former US Vice President Joe Biden, a primary political rival of US President Donald Trump, is currently at the epicenter of a what is purported to be a political scandal because he was a board member of the Ukrainian oil firm Burisma.
Devon Archer, second on the list, is a business partner to Hunter Biden and also a former Burisma board member.
Former DNC consultant, Alexandra Chalupa, who reportedly met with Ukrainian embassy officials during the 2016 presidential campaign, is listed as third.
Number four is the undersecretary of state for political affairs, David Hale, who has already testified in a closed-door deposition earlier this week.
The former senior director for European and Eurasian affairs on the National Security Council, Tim Morrison, is on the list because, according to the GOP, he is one of only two individuals, including National Security Council’s Ukraine director, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, to have listened in on the 25 July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
Republicans also included Nellie Ohr on their list, wife of Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and a former contractor for Fusion GPS - the company that hired former British intelligence officer Michael Steele to work on the Trump-Russian collusion dossier.
The final potential witness on the GOP list is former special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, who was allegedly a liaison between Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the Zelensky administration.
A whistleblower complaint in September brought to the attention of the world a telephone conversation between Trump and Zelensky in which Trump allegedly asked for a "favor". It later became known that Trump withheld military aid of up to $400 million.
House Democrats quickly launched an impeachment inquiry on grounds of abuse of presidential powers and soliciting a foreign power to interfere in the US election process.
Trump has denied claims of attempting to strong-arm Zelensky via telephone as a means of digging up dirt on a political opponent, describing his phone call with the Ukraine president as "perfect" and referring to his impeachment as another "witch hunt".
The impeachment inquiry is set to begin public testimony of witnesses next week, a move that Republicans suggest is an attempt to sway public opinion against the US president.
