House panel subpoenas third ex-trump adviser within two weeks

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Monday subpoenaed former White House aide Rob Porter to testify about alleged efforts by President Donald Trump to impede a federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Porter was the third former Trump adviser to draw a House Judiciary subpoena within the past two weeks. Porter and the other two advisers — Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn — are due to appear before the committee at 10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 17.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said the proceedings would help the Democratic-led panel determine whether to recommend Trump’s impeachment to the full House of Representatives.

Porter is a former White House staff secretary who witnessed a number of episodes laid out in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation report, including one involving then-white House Counsel Don Mcgahn that Democrats view as key to their investigation of the Trump presidency.

“Rob Porter was prominently featured in the special counsel’s description of President Trump’s efforts to obstruct justice by directing ... Mcgahn to fire the special counsel, and then ordering him to lie about it,” Nadler said in a statement.

Democrats want Lewandowski and Dearborn to testify about another damaging episode that involves the president’s alleged efforts to pressure thenattorney General Jeff Sessions to direct Mueller’s Russia investigation away from the 2016 Trump campaign.

“No one is above the law,” Nadler said, adding “any other American would have been prosecuted based on the evidence Special Counsel Mueller uncovered in his report.”

Porter could not be immediately reached for comment.