Live impeachment inquiry updates: Court ruling on McGahn testimony expected; more transcripts could be released - The Washington Post

Tom Brenner Reuters President Trump participates in a listening session on youth vaping and the electronic cigarette epidemic inside the Cabinet Room at the White House on Friday.

Congress has left town for Thanksgiving recess but developments in the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry about President Trump are expected to continue this week, both in court and on Capitol Hill.

A federal judge has said she will rule by the end of the day on whether former White House counsel Donald McGahn must testify before Congress. House investigators could release transcripts of two more witnesses deposed behind closed doors. And the House Intelligence Committee is pulling together a report on what was gleaned from public testimony to send to the Judiciary Committee ahead of the drafting of articles of impeachment.

Democrats are seeking to build a case that Trump leveraged military assistance and an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in exchange for investigations of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden and a debunked theory alleging Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

●White House review turns up emails showing extensive effort to justify Trump’s decision to block Ukraine military aid.

●House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) says Democrats will press forward despite lack of testimony from key impeachment witnesses.

●Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) denies allegation he met with top Ukrainian prosecutor about Bidens.

Who’s involved in the impeachment inquiry | Key documents related to the inquiry | What’s next in the inquiry

8:00 AM: Trump makes suspect claim about polling on impeachment

In a tweet, Trump said Monday that support for his impeachment in “dropping like a rock” and claimed without evidence that support is “into the 20’s in some Polls.”

Most recent national polls have on impeachment have been relatively stable. A NPR-PBS NewsHour Marist Poll last week, for example, showed 45 percent of U.S. adults supported Trump’s impeachment and removal from office while 44 percent were opposed or unsure.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about the polls Trump is referencing.

In his tweet, Trump also urged Democrats to “get down to work” and approve trade legislation with Canada and Mexico, among other measures.

By: John Wagner and Emily Guskin

7:30 AM: Ruling expected on whether McGahn must testify before Congress

A federal judge has said she intends to rule no later than the end of the day Monday on whether former White House counsel Donald McGahn must testify under subpoena to Congress.

U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington entered an order last week about her deadline intent “absent unforeseen circumstances,” shortly after a filing from House General Counsel Douglas N. Letter arguing impeachment hearings before the House Intelligence Committee are grounds for urgency.

House Democrats are debating whether articles of impeachment should include obstruction of justice allegations against Trump detailed in the special counsel report by Robert S. Mueller III.

House Democrats call McGahn, a key figure in Mueller’s investigation, one of the most important witnesses of possible obstruction of justice by Trump. McGahn’s statements are mentioned more than 160 times in the 448-page final report prepared in the special counsel’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

A ruling on whether McGahn must testify could have implications for other current and former White House officials who so far have resisted appearing before Congress.

Read more about the potential implications in Monday morning’s edition of “Power Up” here.

By: Spenser S. Hsu and John Wagner

7:25 AM: Trump quotes lawyer calling inquiry ‘unfair’

Trump returned to Twitter on Monday morning as part of a continuing effort to cast the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry as unfair.

In his first tweet of the day, he quoted lawyer Sam Dewey, a frequent cable news commentator.

“President Trump is facing a process which is unprecedented for its unfairness,” Trump quoted Dewey as saying.

By: John Wagner

7:15 AM: RNC chairwoman claims Democrats’ case is ‘dead’

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel went on Twitter early Monday to argue that the Democrats’ case against Trump is dead.

In a tweet, McDaniel pointed to past comments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) about what it would take to impeach the president

“Pelosi herself said impeachment must be ‘compelling,’ ‘overwhelming,’ and ‘bipartisan,’” McDaniel wrote. “After 2 weeks of sham hearings, the Democrats’ case against @realDonaldTrump is dead — and the only thing that’s ‘bipartisan’ is the opposition to their entire charade.”

By: John Wagner

7:00 AM: More transcripts could be released Monday

Though the public hearings are over — at least for now — House investigators could release transcripts as early as Monday of two closed-door depositions taken as part of the impeachment inquiry.

Still outstanding are the transcripts of depositions taken of Mark Sandy, an Office of Management and Budget official, and Philip Reeker, the diplomat in charge of U.S. policy for Europe.

Sandy testified earlier this month that the White House decision to freeze nearly $400 million in congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine in mid-July was highly irregular and that senior political appointees in the OMB were unable to provide an explanation for the delay.

Sandy, the deputy associate director for national security programs at OMB, testified that he was instructed to sign the first of several apportionment letters in which budget officials formally instituted the freeze on funds, according to two people familiar with his testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly.

Reeker said during his deposition that he appealed to top State Department leaders to publicly support Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was the target of a conspiracy theory-fueled smear campaign, a person familiar with his testimony said.

Reeker expressed his concerns over the falsehoods about Yovanovitch to David Hale, the third-highest-ranking official in the State Department, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, the closest adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door proceedings.

By: John Wagner

6:30 AM: Trump’s Thanksgiving week includes a campaign rally

The week ahead will provide at least one prime opportunity for Trump to weigh in publicly on the impeachment inquiry.

On Tuesday, he is scheduled to hold a “Keep America Great” rally in Sunrise, Fla. He has used previous campaign rallies to air grievances about the process and take aim at the Democrats leading it.

Otherwise, Trump has a relatively light week planned ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, which he plans to spend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

On Monday afternoon, he is scheduled to meet at the White House with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. As of now, the White House has not advertised any press access to that meeting. He also plans to sign a couple of bills Monday behind closed doors.

On Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to preside over the presentation of the National Thanksgiving Turkey before heading to Florida.

By: John Wagner

6:15 AM: Schiff says Trump has waged ‘unprecedented campaign of obstruction’

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) claimed Sunday night that Trump has “waged an unprecedented campaign of obstruction against our inquiry,” pointing to a new Washington Post report.

The Post reported that a confidential White House review of Trump’s decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal, according to three people familiar with the records, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

“Today we learned about more damning evidence that [Trump] is withholding from Congress,” Schiff said in a tweet that linked to The Post story. “If we allow this to stand, Trump will do permanent damage to our system of checks and balances.”

By: John Wagner

6:00 AM: Trump says impeachment proceedings good for GOP politically

Trump claimed in tweets Sunday night that the impeachment process has been good politically for Republicans.

“Democrats going back to their Districts for Thanksgiving are getting absolutely hammered by their constituents over the phony Impeachment Scam,” he said in one tweet. “Republicans will have a great #2020 Election!”

By: John Wagner

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