The White House on Tuesday instructed two former aides to defy congressional subpoenas that sought documents related to allegations that President Donald Trump obstructed justice.
But one of those aides, Hope Hicks, a longtime Trump confidant who served as White House communications director, has turned over some documents to the House Judiciary Committee, according to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler. It wasn’t immediately clear if that will satisfy Democrats’ sweeping demands.
The committee issued the subpoenas two weeks ago to Hicks and Annie Donaldson, who was former White House Counsel Don McGahn’s top aide, as part of the panel’s investigation into Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice and abuses of power.
The subpoenas also seek public testimony from Hicks on June 19 and Donaldson on June 24. The White House previously directed McGahn not to testify, asking the Justice Department to write a new legal opinion stating that former White House officials are immune from congressional testimony. McGahn is expected to be held in civil contempt of Congress by the full House next week.
Democrats have accused Trump of orchestrating a “cover-up,” citing his resistance to their investigations — in particular, his efforts to prevent former aides from turning over documents and testifying publicly.
Trump has maintained that Democrats are trying to mount a “do-over” of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference and the president’s efforts to thwart the probe. The president has said the report “exonerated” him, despite evidence laid out in the special counsel’s report about Trump’s attempts to fire Mueller or otherwise end the investigation altogether.
In his report, Mueller outlined several episodes which met the legal criteria necessary for obstruction of justice charges. But the special counsel cited longstanding Justice Department policies that prohibit the indictment of a sitting president.
In his only public statement since his investigation began two years ago, Mueller said last week that “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing” — a statement that some Democrats interpreted as an impeachment referral.
Donaldson gave extensive testimony to Mueller’s investigators, including her contemporaneous notes detailing the mood inside the White House after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey and after Mueller was ultimately appointed.
“Is this the beginning of the end?” Donaldson wrote on May 9, 2017, referencing what Mueller said were Donaldson’s fears “that the decision to terminate Comey and the manner in which it was carried out would be the end of the presidency.”
According to Mueller, Hicks witnessed several of the possible instances of obstruction of justice.
The House is voting next week to hold McGahn and Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for defying the Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas. The vote will also allow individual committees to enforce subpoenas that have already been issued without requiring a separate vote on the House floor.
When asked if he believes Hicks and Donaldson will eventually be held in contempt, Nadler said on Tuesday: “I assume so.”
Heather Caygle contributed to this report.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine
Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/04/hope-hicks-annie-donaldson-subpoena-1353153
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The Article Was Written/Published By: kcheney@politico.com (Kyle Cheney)
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