House subpoenas White House for Ukraine documents in impeachment inquiry
The House Oversight Committee on Friday issued a subpoena to the White House for documents pertaining to the Trump administration’s contacts with Ukraine.
The subpoena comes amid the House’s impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump in the wake of an intelligence community whistleblower complaint that alleges the president abused his power to pressure Ukrainian leaders for damaging information about his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The subpoena was addressed to Trump’s acting chief of staff, John Mulvaney, and signed by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
It states that Mulvaney’s failure to comply, even at Trump’s behest, “may be used as an adverse inference against you and the President.”
“The White House has refused to engage with ― or even respond to ― multiple requests for documents from our Committees on a voluntary basis,” the subpoena read. “After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the President has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up.”
The subpoena ends: “We deeply regret that President Trump has put us ― and the nation ― in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena.”
Read the full letter below:
2019-10-04.EEC Engel Schiff to Mulvaney-WH Re Subpoena by Mollie Reilly on Scribd
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
