Impeachment Update: Mulvaney Defies Subpoena

The House of Representatives impeachment inquiry centers around whether President Donald Trump used the power of his presidency to solicit a foreign government to influence the 2020 U.S. election. Specifically, he is accused of asking Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, now running for president, while withholding nearly $400 million in military aid approved by Congress.

Here are some of the latest updates:

Mulvaney Defies House Subpoena At Last Minute

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday defied a subpoena for his testimony in the House impeachment probe at the last minute, in what is likely the Democrats’ final effort to hear privately from witnesses about President Trump’s contacts with Ukraine before their inquiry goes public.

The Hill

House GOP Looks To Protect Trump By Offering Up Deputies As Fall Guys

Republican lawmakers are trying to raise questions about whether envoy Gordon Sondland, President Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were actually representing the president or pursuing their own agendas.

The Washington Post

Impeachment Inquiry Tests Ties Between Barr and Trump

For a while at least, he seemed to have found his Roy Cohn, a lawyer to defend him against his accusers and go after his enemies. But the relationship between President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr may be growing more complicated with the rising threat of impeachment.

The New York Times

Top State Department Official Complained About Politicization Of Ukraine Policy

The senior State Department official in charge of Ukraine told impeachment investigators last month that he was alarmed at President Trump’s insistence that Ukraine “initiate politically motivated prosecutions,” casting the effort as the kind of tactic the United States typically condemns in the world’s most corrupt countries.

The New York Times

Fact Checker: Rand Paul’s claim that Trump has a constitutional right to confront whistleblowers

The Washington Post