Energy Dept. won’t comply with impeachment subpoena
Assistant Secretary of Energy Melissa Burnison told the three committees involved in the House impeachment inquiry that the Energy Department is “unable to comply with your request for documents and communications at this time.”
In a letter dated Friday, Burnison argues about the validity of the inquiry and contends the request is for confidential communications “that are potentially protected by executive privilege and would require careful review.”
Burnison concludes by saying the department “remains committed to working with Congress.”
Outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s role in the Ukraine scandal has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, and his contact with Ukrainian officials was the subject of the subpoena from House Democrats.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed in a rare news conference Thursday that President Donald Trump had instructed Perry, at a May 23 meeting in the Oval Office, to work through his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine-related issues.
Multiple witnesses in the impeachment probe have testified that Giuliani meddled in foreign policy related to Ukraine, circumventing the diplomatic process in some cases.
House Democrats had also sought documents related to Perry’s trip to Ukraine for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration, when Perry led the US delegation in place of Vice President Mike Pence at Trump’s instruction.
The rejection is the latest instance where the Trump administration has flouted House of Representatives subpoenas in the Democratic impeachment inquiry.
The White House charged in a recent letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that its impeachment inquiry was “illegitimate” and “unconstitutional” and that it would not participate in the investigation.
The State Department, Pentagon and Office of Management and Budget all already have failed to respond to House subpoena deadlines after Democrats demanded a host of documents related to the freezing of U.S. security aid to Ukraine, the push for Ukraine to open an investigation and the ouster of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
“The Department is unable to comply with your request for documents at this time,” Robert Hood, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, wrote to the three committees leading the impeachment probe Tuesday. “The Department understands the significance of your request for information and has taken steps to identify, preserve, and collect potentially responsive documents.”
Democrats have had more success using subpoenas to bring in current and former administration officials, despite White House direction that they do not appear. This past week, former White House Russia adviser Fiona Hill, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland all testified under subpoena.
But the Trump administration’s stonewalling of the investigation has hampered the Democratic investigation in a key way: those officials did not provide documents to the committee, saying they were the possession of the Trump administration.
“We know from the additional witnesses who have come forward that there are additional documents that they have provided the State Department but have not been given to Congress,” House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said last week.
Although Democrats have sued in other investigations in order to try to obtain the documents the Trump administration has refused to hand over, this time they’re signaling they will go another route: that defiance of subpoenas is evidence of obstruction of Congress.