By Aaron Miller-
Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been subpoenaed to produce documents as part of the impeachment investigation getting deeper by the day.
The subpoenor comprises the impeachment inquiry into misconduct allegations that the U.S president pressured new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a phone call in July to investigate political rival Joe Biden. The call revealed details of the call in which Mr Trump asked the Ukrainian president to co-ordinate with his lawyer on any inquiry into Mr Biden and son Hunter. Transcripts of the call were released by the White House in the wake of the impeachment inquiry.
The subpoena also relates to a 19 September appearance on CNN, Mr Giuliani confirmed he asked Ukraine to “look into the allegations that related to my client, which tangentially involved Joe Biden in a massive bribery scheme”.
In their subpoena letter, the chairmen said: “In addition to this stark admission, you stated more recently that you are in possession of evidence – in the form of text messages, phone records, and other communications – indicating that you were not acting alone and that other Trump Administration officials may have been involved in this scheme.”
The chairmen have demanded all relevant communications be submitted by 15 October.
On Sunday Adam Schiff, House intelligence committee chairman, said the panel would hear from the secret whistleblower “very soon”, but said no date had been set. Ukraine’s president has claimed his country is independent and cannot be made to do anything, despite details of the calls revealing his consent to the president’s wishes.
Mr Zelinsky criticised the White House’s decision to release a rough transcript of the July call that sparked the impeachment inquiry, calling it “wrong”.They added that Mr Giuliani also said he is in “possession of evidence – in the form of text messages, phone records, and other communications – indicating that you were not acting alone and that other Trump administration officials may have been involved in this scheme”.
Three of Mr Giuliani’s business associates, Ukrainian-American fixers Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and billionaire Semyon ‘Sam’ Kislin, who was Mr Giuliani’s advisor when he was mayor of New York, have also been asked to provide documents and noticing depositions to the investigation.
Image; CNN