The Mercury News

Former Trump aide wants judge to decide what direction he should go

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WASHINGTON >> An ex-white House adviser who’s supposed to testify before House impeachmen­t investigat­ors on Monday has asked a federal court whether he should comply with a subpoena or follow President Donald Trump’s directive against cooperatin­g in what the president dubs a “scam.”

After getting a subpoena Friday, former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman quickly filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court in Washington. He asked a judge to decide whether he should accede to House demands for his testimony or to assert “immunity from congressio­nal process” as directed by Trump.

The lawsuit came as Democrats’ impeachmen­t inquiry continued at full speed with a rare Saturday session. Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, took questions behind closed doors for more than eight hours about Trump’s ouster of the ambassador of Ukraine in May and whether he had knowledge about efforts to persuade Ukraine to pursue politicall­y motivated investigat­ions.

Kupperman, who provided foreign policy advice to the president, was scheduled to testify in a similar session on Monday. In the lawsuit, Kupperman said he “cannot satisfy the competing demands of both the legislativ­e and executive branches.” Without the court’s help, he said, he would have to make the decision himself — one that could “inflict grave constituti­onal injury” on either Congress or the presidency.

The impeachmen­t inquiry is rooted in a July 25 phone call Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

During the call, Trump asked the Ukrainian leader to pursue investigat­ions of Democratic political rival Joe Biden’s family and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election that propelled Trump into the White House.

At the time of the call, Trump was withholdin­g congressio­nally approved military aid for Ukraine. He has repeatedly said there was no quid pro quo for the Ukraine investigat­ions he was seeking, though witness testimony has contradict­ed that claim.

Kupperman’s filing says “an erroneous judgment to abide by the President’s assertion of testimonia­l immunity would unlawfully impede the House from carrying out one of its most important core Constituti­onal responsibi­lities” — the power of impeachmen­t — and subject Kupperman to “potential criminal liability for contempt of Congress.”

On the other hand, “an erroneous judgment to appear and testify in obedience to the House Defendants’ subpoena would unlawfully impair the President in the exercise of his core national security responsibi­lities ... by revealing confidenti­al communicat­ions” from advisers, according to the filing.

He has asked the court to expedite a decision, but unless the judge issues an opinion by Monday, Kupperman’s testimony might not occur as scheduled.

Rejecting his arguments, the three chairmen of the House committees overseeing the inquiry told Kupperman’s lawyers in a letter that the suit was without merit and appeared to be coordinate­d with the White House. They called the suit “an obvious and desperate tactic by the President to delay and obstruct the lawful constituti­onal functions of Congress and conceal evidence about his conduct from the impeachmen­t inquiry.”

The chairmen also said Kupperman’s defiance of the subpoena would constitute evidence in a contempt proceeding as well as additional evidence of Trump’s obstructio­n of the inquiry.

In the House deposition, Reeker was expected to corroborat­e testimony from previous witnesses who have described the Trump administra­tion’s dealings with Ukraine, according to a person familiar with Reeker’s role in Ukraine policy. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the testimony and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lawmakers leaving the meeting with Reeker said he was backing up testimony from previous witnesses, most all of whom have detailed concerns with Trump’s efforts to oust Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitc­h and said they were wary of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer who was driving the push for the Ukrainian probes.

 ?? JOSE LUIS MAGANA — AP ?? Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, leaves the Capitol after a closed-door interview Saturday.
JOSE LUIS MAGANA — AP Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, leaves the Capitol after a closed-door interview Saturday.

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