Sep 30, 2019

House Democrats subpoena Rudy Giuliani for Ukraine documents

Zachary Basu

Photo: Siavosh Hosseini/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani has been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee to produce documents by Oct. 15 related to his and President Trump's alleged efforts to push the government of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

Why it matters: Over the past year, Giuliani has met with a variety of Ukrainian officials in an effort to investigate baseless allegations that Biden forced Ukraine to fire a prosecutor investigating his son, Hunter. In a July phone call that is now at the heart of House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, Trump asked Ukraine's president to work with Giuliani to investigate Biden — prompting allegations by a whistleblower that Trump was soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election.

  • The chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees wrote in a letter that in addition to admitting on national television that he asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, Giuliani stated that he is in possession of evidence that suggests other Trump administration officials are involved in the scheme.
  • Giuliani recently told the Washington Post that he has "about 40 texts" from State Department officials asking him to do what he did.
  • The chairmen also sent letters to 3 of Giuliani's business associates — Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, Semyon “Sam” Kislin — seeking documents and scheduling depositions.

The big picture: The House Intelligence Committee is moving full steam ahead with its impeachment investigation, having also subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and scheduled a hearing with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson for Friday. The committee is also working to secure testimony from the anonymous whistleblower.

What to watch: Giuliani said on Sunday that he will cooperate with the committee's investigation if Trump asks him to, but attacked Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) as an "illegitimate chairman" who deserves to be removed.

Read the letter to Giuliani:

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Rudy Giuliani says he will not testify before House Intel

Photo: William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani told the Washington Post in an interview Tuesday that he will not testify or provide documents to the House Intelligence Committee until its chairman, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), is removed and the full House votes to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry.

Why it matters: Giuliani is a central figure in the alleged campaign by President Trump and his allies to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son over unsubstantiated corruption allegations. The 3 House committees leading the impeachment inquiry — Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight — have given Giuliani until Oct. 15 to respond to a subpoena, but he made clear to the Post that he will not cooperate: "Let them hold me in contempt. We'll go to court. We’ll challenge the contempt."

Go deeperArrowOct 8, 2019
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Giuliani hires attorney to represent him in Ukraine investigation

Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani confirmed on Tuesday that he has lawyered up, hiring attorney Jon Sale to represent him in House Democrats' impeachment inquiry into alleged efforts by him and President Trump to pressure the government of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

The big picture: Sale is a former Watergate assistant special prosecutor and one of Giuliani's former law school classmates, per the New York Times' Maggie Haberman. Giuliani has been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee to produce documents by Oct. 15. He has not yet stated whether he will cooperate. He said on Sunday that he would comply if Trump asked him to, but attacked Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff as unqualified because he has "prejudged the case."

Keep ReadingArrowOct 1, 2019
Zachary Basu

Giuliani will not comply with subpoena deadline in Ukraine investigation

Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told ABC News Tuesday that he will not comply with a subpoena from the House committees investigating Ukraine.

Context: The subpoena asked for documents related to allegations that Giuliani and members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, led a campaign to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden. Giuliani told ABC that "if they enforce [the subpoena], then we will see what happens," and that he is no longer retaining the services of an attorney who he hired at the beginning of this month.

Go deeperArrowOct 15, 2019