White House to battle impeachment by stalling, attacking

As House Democrats fire off more subpoenas, White House is finalizing a high-stakes strategy to counter impeachment threat to President Donald Trump: Stall. Obfuscate. Attack. Repeat. Trump aides are honing ir approach after two weeks of what allies have described as a listless and unfocused response to impeachment probe. One expected step is a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejecting inquiry because Democrats haven’t held a vote on matter and moving to all but cease cooperation with Capitol Hill on key oversight matters. strategy risks furr provoking Democrats in impeachment probe, setting up court challenges and potential for lawmakers to draw up an article of impeachment accusing Trump of obstructing ir investigations. But as lawmakers seek to amass ammunition to be used in an impeachment trial, White House increasingly believes all-out warfare is its best course of action.

RE: Depositions And More: What To Watch On Impeachment This Week

Pelosi’s office releases open letter 

“What y did to this country is unthinkable. It’s lucky that I’m president. A lot of people said very few people could handle it. I sort of thrive on it,” Trump said Monday at White House. “You can’t impeach a president for doing a great job. This is a scam.”House Democrats, for ir part, issued a new round of subpoenas on Monday, this time to Defense Secretary Mark Esper and acting White House budget director Russell Vought. Pelosi’s office also released an open letter signed by 90 former national security officials who served in both Democratic and Republican ministrations, voicing support for whistleblower who raised concerns about Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate political foe, Joe Biden.
“A responsible whistleblower makes all Americans safer by ensuring that serious wrongdoing can be investigated and dressed, thus vancing cause of national security to which we have devoted our careers,” y wrote. “Whatever one’s view of matters discussed in whistleblower’s complaint, all Americans should be united in demanding that all branches of our government and all outlets of our media protect this whistleblower and his or her identity. Simply put, he or she has done what our law demands; w he or she deserves our protection.”

RE: US: Mike Pompeo Defends Trump ministration During Impeachment Row

Trump accused of “frantically pushing flat-out lies"

House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees are investigating Trump’s actions pressing Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, potentially interfering in 2020 election. former vice president, for his part, has accused Trump of “frantically pushing flat-out lies, debunked conspiracy ories, and smears against me.” Trump also withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine. White House has struggled to communicate its mess beyond Trump’s angry public proclamations and an endless stream of tweets. Indeed, top officials were absent from Sunday talk shows, and sole White House official to appear in public on Monday dodged questions on inquiry. Asked wher he believed president was joking or in any way t serious when he suggested publicly that China should investigate Bidens, Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top ecomic viser, responded: “I don’t honestly kw.”

RE: Mike Pompeo In Montenegro As Trump Impeachment Inquiry Picks Up

Trump’s aides igred document requests and subpoenas

Trump and his team’s initial strategy h been to try to undermine credibility of intelligence community whistleblower who first raised questions about Trump’s conduct with Ukraine, just as y tried to undercut special counsel Robert Mueller and his team. y stressed that whistleblower h only second- or third-hand information and alleged that person misrepresented president’s efforts. But w a second whistleblower has come forward to corroborate information, and a cache of text messs echoes concerns that have been laid out. As impeachment inquiry ramps up, White House plans to reprise its past response to congressional oversight: open scorn. president’s aides have igred document requests and subpoenas, invoked executive privilege — going so far as to argue that privilege extends to informal presidential visers who have never held White House jobs — and all but dared Democrats to hold m in contempt.

RE: White House Prepares Formal Objection To Trump 's Impeachment Probe

Mike Pompeo blows deline for complying with a subpoena

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blew a Friday deline for complying with a subpoena. But he said over weekend that State Department h sent a letter to Congress as its initial response to request. He also indicated a new willingness to comply, saying: “We’ll obviously do all things that we’re required to do by law.” letter to Pelosi has been delayed as aides work to finalize legislative and communications plan to go along with legal strategy. At same time, Trump’s campaign, which has reported a fundraising surge since impeachment inquiry, held a curiously timed briefing call with reporters Monday to trumpet its efforts to overhaul delegate selection process to ensure re is drama at Republican National Convention. Trump campaign officials said effort h thing to do with concerns about fending off a primary challenge.