The latest on the Trump impeachment inquiry

We’ve moved our live coverage — follow the latest here.

President Donald Trump is pushing back against a damning whistleblower complaint about his dealings with Ukraine by falsely claiming the complaint has been debunked.

According to a CNN analysis, however, the overwhelming majority of allegations in the complaint have been corroborated by official government documents, Trump’s public statements, and news reporting.

CNN’s Marshall Cohen dissects 14 corroborated claims:

Read his documentation.

Here are some of the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump:

The latest:

Facebook denied a request from Joe Biden’s campaign to take down a video ad by President Trump’s reelection campaign that falsely accuses Biden of corruption in Ukraine policy under the Obama administration.

In the letter obtained by CNN, Facebook said the decision is “grounded in Facebook’s fundamental belief in free expression, respect for the democratic process, and belief that in mature democracies with a free press, political speech is already arguably the most scrutinized speech there is.”

Facebook added that they do not send ads to third party fact-checkers. The New York Times first reported the letter from Facebook.

The Trump campaign ad: The video accuses Biden of using his power as then-vice president to influence Ukraine in order to benefit his son, Hunter. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe or Hunter Biden. CNN has refused to air the ad.

The Biden campaign responded to the Facebook letter by calling the decision “unacceptable.”

Some context: Trump has repeatedly claimed that Biden had called for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was “investigating his son.”

There is no evidence Hunter Biden was ever under investigation. The investigation was into the business dealings of the owner of a Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden sat on the board of directors.

Read more about it here.

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, said Tuesday night he would “love to testify” in the Senate.

Speaking on Fox News, Giuliani said the decision to testify wasn’t solely up to him.

“I have to weigh that with my client and the other lawyers involved,” he said. “It’s not a unitary decision. What decision I make may affect the other decisions.”

Giuliani invited to the Hill: Giuliani’s statement on Fox News comes after the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham, said earlier Tuesday that he plans to invite Giuliani to speak to the committee about the allegations of corruption in Ukraine.

Why we’re talking about Giuliani: Giuliani has been vocal since the Ukraine scandal broke, claiming that he has dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Earlier this month, Giuliani first denied then admitted in an interview on CNN that he asked Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden. Important to note, there is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe Biden or his son.

President Trump called the ongoing impeachment inquiry “the greatest witch hunt in the history of the USA” on Tuesday night.

He made the comment on Twitter in response to an earlier tweet by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“Overturning the results of an American election requires the highest level of fairness and due process, as it strikes at the core of our democratic process,” McConnell had tweeted. “So far, the House has fallen far short by failing to follow the same basic procedures that it has followed for every other President in our history.”

A source familiar with impeachment deliberations said the President’s legal team is prepared for the current battle to go to the courts.

“All options are on the table,” the source said.

The source declined to describe its letter today as going to “war” with House Democrats. But the source agreed it’s an “escalating skirmish.”

About the letter: The White House sent a blistering letter to congressional Democrats today. In it, President Trump’s lawyers said the President and his administration won’t cooperate in an ongoing impeachment inquiry, arguing the proceedings amount to an illegitimate effort to overturn the 2016 election results.

Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford reacted tonight to a letter the White House sent to House Democrats.

“Whether one likes it or not, the Legislative Branch has oversight power on the Executive Branch,” the South Carolina Republican tweeted. “@realDonaldTrump should trust the American people to see the truth if there is nothing to hide…”

In the letter to the House, the White House claims Trump’s due process rights have been circumvented without a vote, and that Trump has no choice but to not cooperate. The letter also makes clear the administration will continue to reject requests from Democrats if the proceedings continue in their current fashion.

President Trump directed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and two top State Department officials to deal with his private attorney Rudy Giuliani when the Ukrainian president sought to meet Trump in a clear circumvention of official channels, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.

Trump believed the country was still rampantly corrupt and said that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to meet with him, Giuliani would have to be convinced first, one source said.

Trump’s push to have Giuliani — his personal attorney — as gatekeeper is more direct than what was previously disclosed by one of the meeting’s participants in his statement to the House last week. It also further demonstrates how significant Giuliani was in brokering access to the President regarding Ukraine policy and in passing messages to other administration officials.

A key accusation in the whistleblower’s complaint that has prompted the impeachment probe into the President’s dealings with Ukraine is that Giuliani, a private citizen, had been presenting to Ukraine a US policy different than that from US diplomats.

At the May 23 meeting, Perry, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, the State Department’s special representative to Ukraine, were reporting back to Trump after they returned from Zelensky’s inauguration.

Their goal was to tell Trump that they had a favorable impression of Zelensky and his government, and that he was a reformer who Trump should trust and engage with, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.

Keep reading.

Trey Gowdy, a former congressman and an ex-federal prosecutor, is expected to work with the White House from the outside as counsel, two sources tell CNN.

As of now, he is not expected to join the administration.

CNN was first to report the White House reached out to him to help with the impeachment fight. Gowdy was at the White House today and met with chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, an additional official said. 

Here are some of the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump:

The three chairmen leading the investigation into President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president issued a subpoena today for US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.

The subpoena requires Sondland to “testify at a deposition next Wednesday and to produce documents recovered from his personal devices before the deposition,” according to the chairmen’s statement.

Sondland was scheduled to testify before three House committees today, but the State Department blocked him from talking to Congress. Sondland’s attorney Robert Luskin said he had no choice but to comply.

“He is a sitting ambassador and employee of State and is required to follow their direction,” Luskin said this morning.

In the White House’s letter to congressional Democrats, President Trump’s lawyers said the President and his administration won’t cooperate in an ongoing impeachment inquiry, arguing the proceedings amount to an illegitimate effort to overturn the 2016 election results.

In the letter to the House, the White House claims Trump’s due process rights have been circumvented without a vote, and that Trump has no choice but to not cooperate. 

“For these reasons, President Trump and his Administration reject your baseless, unconstitutional efforts to overturn the democratic process. Your unprecedented actions have left the President with no choice. In order to fulfill his duties to the American people, the Constitution, the Executive Branch, and all future occupants of the Office of the Presidency, President Trump and his Administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances,” the letter said.

Read the full letter here.

A senior administration official declined to say how the White House would cooperate with the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives if a successful impeachment vote was held.

“I don’t want to speculate about what would happen in various hypothetical situations. You know, we’ll take this step by step. We have one concrete situation now that we’re confronting, we’ve addressed it. If the House wants to engage and alter the current circumstances then we’ll have to evaluate that as it goes along,” a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call outlining the White House’s letter to the House today. 

Asked again what the bar for the White House’s cooperation would be, the official said, “I’m not going to try to provide particular red lines or things like that… We’d have to see what the House wants to do to try to remedy” the flaws within its current process, as the White House counsel expressed in the letter.

The senior official also described the letter during the call, lamenting that the House’s current process “violates basic due process standards,” and criticizing the House’s process has containing “flaws denying fundamental fairness and due process contrary to all history and precedent in this country.”

The senior official said that the White House would not participate “under the current circumstances.”

“He cannot have an administration participate in this unconstitutional procedure, and that under the current circumstances, which is currently framed that he and his administration will not participate in this process,” the official said.

“I don’t want to try to predict” a future response, the official later reiterated, adding, “We’ll have to see how it develops.”

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham called the impeachment inquiry into President Trump “partisan proceedings” that are “an affront to the Constitution.”

In a statement, Grisham slammed House Democrats, saying they are “pursuing purely partisan goals, including influencing the upcoming 2020 election.

Read her full statement: 

“The President has done nothing wrong, and the Democrats know it. For purely political reasons, the Democrats have decided their desire to overturn the outcome of the 2016 election allows them to conduct a so-called impeachment inquiry that ignores the fundamental rights guaranteed to every American. These partisan proceedings are an affront to the Constitution — as they are being held behind closed doors and deny the President the right to call witnesses, to cross-examine witnesses, to have access to evidence, and many other basic rights.

Today, on behalf of President Donald J. Trump, Pat Cipollone, Counsel to the President, sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Chairmen Engel, Schiff, and Cummings. The letter demonstrates that the Democrats’ inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, and even the most elementary due process protections. Democrats are pursuing purely partisan goals, including influencing the upcoming 2020 election. In the process, they are violating civil liberties and the separation of powers, threatening Executive Branch officials with punishment simply for exercising their constitutional rights and prerogatives. All of this violates the Constitution, the rule of law, and every past precedent. For these reasons, the Executive Branch cannot be expected to, and will not participate in, this exercise of partisan political theater.

President Trump and his entire Administration will, however, keep fighting for the American people, growing the economy, building prosperity, and protecting America’s interests at home and abroad.”

Read the White House’s letter.

CNN Political Director David Chalian covers the Trump administration’s actions to block US Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony in today’s episode of “The Daily DC: Impeachment Watch” podcast.

Chalian also looks at:

Chalian is joined by CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Josh Campbell.

Listen to the podcast here.

In the White House’s letter to Congressional Democrats, President Trump’s lawyers take direct aim at House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff for saying his committee hadn’t had contact with the whistleblower and for reading a dramatized version of Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president.

Some context: The whistleblower first contacted the staff of the House Intelligence Committee for guidance before sending the complaint to the Trump administration. However, the committee said members did not see the complaint before it was submitted.

The White House letter also addresses what White House lawyers contend are irregularities in the way Democrats have moved forward with the impeachment inquiry.

It identifies the current inability for House Republicans to call witnesses or issue subpoenas, or for the President’s own lawyers to cross-examine witnesses.

The letter is expected to be sent to the Hill soon.

President Trump’s lawyers will soon send a blistering letter to House Democrats.

In it, they say the President and his administration won’t cooperate in an ongoing impeachment inquiry, arguing the proceedings amount to an illegitimate effort to overturn the 2016 election results.

The letter is expected to be sent from the White House soon.

The lengthy letter all but dares House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a formal vote opening an impeachment inquiry into Trump, a step she has so far resisted. The letter claims Trump’s due process rights have been circumvented without a vote and that Trump has no choice but to not cooperate.

The letter also makes clear the administration will continue to reject requests from Democrats if the proceedings continue in their current fashion.

The whistleblower who first raised the complaint about President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s president spoke to a White House official who listened to the call — and that official called the conversation “crazy” and “frighting,” according to a new New York Times report.

The whistleblower wrote a memo, in which he or she described that the White House official was “visibly shaken by what had transpired.” The whistleblower wrote that the official said the call was “completely lacking in substance related to national security.”

The New York Times reports that the whistleblower described “a palpable sense of concern” that “had already taken hold among at least some in the White House that the call had veered well outside the bounds of traditional diplomacy.”

Each week, CNN legal analyst and former federal and state prosecutor, Elie Honig, will be answering your questions on impeachment as the inquiry proceeds.

Here’s one of them: Who serves as the prosecutor in a Senate impeachment trial?

If the House impeaches President Trump, then it will appoint a team of House “managers” to present the case for impeachment in the Senate trial. During the 1999 Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, the Republican-controlled House appointed a team of 13 representatives to serve as managers and present the case against Clinton. I’d expect the current House to include former prosecutors Adam Schiff, Ted Lieu and Eric Swalwell, among others, on its team.

The President would appoint a team of lawyers to defend him. Those lawyers can come from anywhere, including private practice. Clinton chose a team of high-powered attorneys – including White House counsel and private lawyers.

Who’s the jury? The 100 senators then serve essentially as a jury, with a two-thirds vote — 67 votes out of 100 — required to convict and remove the subject from office.

House Democrats are having a caucus-wide call Friday, according to two sources, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to be on the call.

The topic of the call is to be determined, but the impeachment inquiry is very likely to be discussed.

The Democrats have been having periodic calls during recess on a range of topics. Friday’s planned call comes before the House returns next week, as members are eager to learn details on next steps. 

The White House has reached out to outside lawyers for impeachment counsel, according to a person familiar.

One of the lawyers they reached out to is Trey Gowdy, a former congressman and an ex-federal prosecutor. He now regularly appears on Fox News.

Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko revealed details of his meetings with President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in an interview with Ukraine’s Radio NV, which aired today.

According to an excerpt of the interview published on the NV.ua website, Lutsenko said the first proposal to meet Giuliani in the US came to him at the end of 2017. According to Lutsenko, he agreed after a fourth request and traveled to the US privately to meet Giuliani.

“In the end of 2018 — I’m sorry, 2017 — Giuliani offered a meeting in the US via one of my subordinates with whom his people had business, I agreed because of my national interests,” Lutsenko said. “But after a few months, Mr. Giuliani asked for a meeting for the fourth time, and that’s when I took a vacation with my son and went to New York City for this meeting.”

Lutsenko said he agreed to meet because it was “the only way to try to achieve a joint investigation into the money of the organized criminal group of [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych,” who fled Ukraine in 2014 and is currently in Russia. 

“We talked for three days, about two to three hours every day,” Lutsenko said of his conversations with Giuliani. “He also asked one day if I could tell him about the possible interference of Ukrainian figures in the 2016 US election. It seems to me that these actions are obvious, but they do not fall under the Ukrainian Criminal Code.” 

Lutsenko added that if he found that any such activities fell under US law, he would have been willing to start joint investigation with the US. During a meeting on the second day of his visit to the United States, according to Lutsenko, he and Giuliani discussed the case of Burisma, which previously employed Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden.

There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.

What we know: As reported by CNN, Lutsenko and another former prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, supplied Giuliani’s team with a list of unsupported allegations that asserted corruption by the Bidens, as well as collusion between officials in Ukraine and the Democrats in the US to publicize damaging information about Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in 2016. Lutsenko, who left office in August, has changed his account of events surrounding those efforts several times.

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation last week opened a criminal proceeding involving Lutsenko, an agency official told CNN.

Chris Ruddy, a confidant of President Trump, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he believes Trump is “overreacting” by preventing US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland from testifying before Congress.

“I think the President, frankly, is overreacting and the White House is over reacting by withholding testimony,” Ruddy said. 

The Newsmax Media CEO also said the impeachment inquiry is “a mortal threat to his presidency, and he certainly should treat it that way.”

Watch for more:

About Sondland’s deposition: The State Department directed Sondland not to testify before Congress today. House Democrats said they will issue a subpoena for the testimony in response.

Aides to President Trump scrambled in the aftermath of his July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s leader — both to alert lawyers of their concerns and to contain the damage, new CNN reporting shows.

At least one National Security Council official alerted the White House’s national security lawyers about the concerns, three sources familiar with the matter said. Those same lawyers would later order the transcript of the call moved to a highly classified server typically reserved for code-word classified material.

Those concerns were raised independently of the complaint brought forward by an intelligence community whistleblower. They reflect new evidence of the unease mounting within the administration at the President’s actions.

Unsettled aides also immediately began quizzing each other about whether they should alert senior officials who were not on the call — mainly those at the Justice Department, since Trump had invoked the agency’s boss, Attorney General Bill Barr, multiple times during the 30-minute talk.

White House lawyers, aware of the tumult, initially believed it could be contained within the walls of the White House. As more people became aware of the conversation — and began raising their internal concerns about it — a rough transcript of the call was stored away in a highly classified server that few could access. The order to move the transcript came from the White House’s national security lawyers to prevent more people from seeing it, according to people familiar with the situation.

The scramble and fallout from the call, described by six people familiar with it, parallels and expands upon details described in the whistleblower complaint. The anxiety and internal concern reflect a phone conversation that deeply troubled national security professionals, even as Trump now insists there was nothing wrong with how he conducted himself. And it shows an ultimately unsuccessful effort to contain the tumult by the administration’s lawyers.

A federal judge forced the Justice Department today to compare proceedings during Watergate to the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Judge Beryl Howell grilled House and Justice Department lawyers on the current inquiry for more than two hours. The hearing was set to focus on grand jury secrets in the report by special counsel Robert Mueller, but Howell has asked several pointed questions about the parameters of the current impeachment probe.

At one point, Howell cut off a Justice Department lawyer arguing the administration could withhold grand jury secrets from Congress.

She then brought up Judge John Sirica, who became one of President Richard Nixon’s greatest foils during Watergate. Sirica had ruled to give a secret grand jury report to Congress as it investigated Nixon. Its release bolstered impeachment so much it was called the “Watergate roadmap.”

Howell asked twice, “Was former Judge Sirica wrong?” 

Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Shapiro said the Nixon-era judge wasn’t wrong at the time, but the Watergate grand jury decision by the court may have resulted differently today.

Howell responded to Shapiro, saying, “Wow.”

“The Department (of Justice) is taking an extraordinary position in this case,” Howell said.

What this hearing is all about: This hearing has covered many of the legal questions that the House and White House are fighting over this week as the Ukraine impeachment inquiry moves forward.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stressed the importance of protecting whistleblowers as she spoke to reporters in Seattle.

“The intelligence community respects the role of whistleblowers,” Pelosi said. “We all do, but in intelligence, protecting the whistleblower is absolutely essential so that there’s no retribution or anything for speaking truth.”

“Whistleblowers must be protected,” she added.

Some background: House Intelligence Committee and lawyers for the whistleblower who filed a complaint about President Trump’s conduct are discussing extreme measures to protect the individual’s identity amid growing concerns about his or her safety, according to several sources familiar with the process.

It is still unclear when the whistleblower might ultimately talk with the committee, but among the measures being discussed are the possibility of using an off-site location, limiting Hill staff and members who would be present and even disguising the individual’s image and voice.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters in Seattle, said President Trump is “obstructing Congress from getting the facts that we need” after his administration blocked a US diplomat’s deposition this morning.

She went on to say Trump’s behavior is “an abuse of power,” adding “that is one of the reasons that we have an impeachment inquiry.”

Earlier today, the Trump administration blocked US Ambassador to European Union Gordon Sondland’s deposition before three House committees.

Pelosi said Sondland had said to his lawyers that he was prepared to testify.

“There will be a subpoena issued for him to come testify,” she said.

House General Counsel Doug Letter said he spoke to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi last night and “she is totally on board with this.”

Letter told Judge Beryl Howell earlier in today’s hearing that the House of Representatives may be considering articles of impeachment against the President that go further than the Ukraine issue — and may include obstruction of justice and interference with federal elections accusations.

What this hearing is all about: This hearing has covered many of the legal questions that the House and White House are fighting over this week as the Ukraine impeachment inquiry moves forward.

The hearing was set to focus on grand jury secrets in the report by special counsel Robert Mueller, but Howell has asked several pointed questions about the parameters of the current impeachment probe.

Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Diane Feinstein reacted to the invitation earlier today from Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham to have Rudy Giuliani testify about Ukraine, saying it would “give us an opportunity to help separate fact from fiction.”

“I welcome the opportunity to question Rudy Giuliani under oath about his role in seeking the Ukrainian government’s assistance to investigate one of the president’s political rivals,” Feinstein said in a statement.

Her statement continued: “Democratic members have plenty of questions for Mr. Giuliani and this would give us an opportunity to help separate fact from fiction for the American people.”

Why we are talking about Rudy Giuliani today: Earlier today, Graham extended an invitation to Giuliani to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In a tweet, Graham said he has “heard on numerous occasions disturbing allegations by [Giuliani] about corruption in Ukraine.”

In response to the invite, Giuliani told CNN: “Love Lindsey, but I am still a lawyer and I will have to deal with privilege.”

Giuliani has been vocal since the Ukraine scandal broke, claiming that he has dirt on Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Earlier this month, Giuliani first denied then admitted in an interview on CNN that he asked Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden. Important to note, there is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe Biden or his son.

Giuliani has also been among the people pushing a theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election through “collusion” with Democrats.

Three Democratic House committees chairs put out a joint statement today saying they will issue a subpoena to the US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland to testify and turn over documents as part of their impeachment inquiry.

Chairmen Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Eljiah Cummings said in a statement: “Ambassador Sondland’s testimony and documents are vital, and that is precisely why the Administration is now blocking his testimony and withholding his documents.”

They added:

More context: Sondland was scheduled to testify before three House committees in a closed-door meeting today — but earlier this morning, the State Department ordered him not to appear.

Here’s the full statement from the Chairmen:

“The House of Representatives is engaged in an impeachment inquiry to determine whether the President violated his oath of office and endangered our national security by pressing Ukraine to launch sham investigations to assist his personal and political interests rather than the interests of the American people. Today, the White House has once again attempted to impede and obstruct the impeachment inquiry.
“This morning, we learned from Ambassador Sondland’s personal attorneys that the State Department left a voicemail last night at 12:30 a.m. informing them that the Trump Administration would not allow the Ambassador to appear today as part of the House’s impeachment inquiry. 
“In addition, Ambassador Sondland’s attorneys have informed us that the Ambassador has recovered communications from his personal devices that the Committees requested prior to his interview today. He has turned them over to the State Department, however, and the State Department is withholding them from the Committees, in defiance of our subpoena to Secretary Pompeo.
“These actions appear to be part of the White House’s effort to obstruct the impeachment inquiry and to cover up President Trump’s misconduct from Congress and the American people. Ambassador Sondland’s testimony and documents are vital, and that is precisely why the Administration is now blocking his testimony and withholding his documents.  
“We consider this interference to be obstruction of the impeachment inquiry. 
“We will be issuing subpoena to Ambassador Sondland for both his testimony and documents.”

US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland called President Trump to find out what was going on after the top US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, raised concerns in a text to Sondland about withholding assistance, according to a source with knowledge. 

Trump emphatically told him no quid pro quo, the source said.

Here are the September 2019 texts we are talking about:

Bill Taylor: As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.
Gordon Sondland: Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign I suggest we stop the back and forth by text If you still have concerns I recommend you give Lisa Kenna or S a call to discuss them directly. Thanks.

The Justice Department said it has agreed to give the House 33 FBI memos from the Robert Mueller investigation for use in the impeachment inquiry.

Here’s the thing: The documents have redactions “to protect confidential communications between senior White House advisers,” DOJ attorney Elizabeth Shapiro said. 

Judge Howell responded with incredulity, pointing out that the White House appeared to be keeping confidential from the House information that was widely available within the FBI. Shapiro responded that it was not widely shared within the FBI.

A lawyer for the House of Representatives told a federal judge that “we’re getting almost nothing” from the Justice Department for the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

House General Counsel Doug Letter told a federal judge this morning that the Justice Department has refused to share FBI memos on what former White House Counsel Don McGahn and other White House employees told Special Counsel Robert Mueller about the President’s attempts to obstruct justice.

The memos go to “the very heart of what we need to look into” in the current impeachment inquiry, Letter told Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court Tuesday.

The House has seen no FBI interview notes (so-called 302s) from McGahn or his deputy Annie Donaldson or of “others in the White House, despite saying they need them and the Justice Department agreeing to share some of the memos with the House.

The House has seen “nowhere near” what it thought it would see after the Mueller investigation.

Meanwhile, the House is arguing in court that it’s “fully engaged” in the impeachment inquiry and it didn’t need a formal vote to start that proceeding.

Federal Judge Beryl Howell is pressing the House over what protected information the House may gain access to at this time through the court.

The hearing comes the same morning the Trump administration has begun to stonewall the House’s impeachment inquiry because it hasn’t passed a resolution to formalize it — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had only announced the inquiry.

The Justice Department has not yet told the judge its arguments in the ongoing court hearing.

Sen. Lindsey Graham extended an invitation to President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about Ukraine.

In a tweet, Graham said he has “heard on numerous occasions disturbing allegations by [Giuliani] about corruption in Ukraine.”

Graham added: “Given the House of Representatives’ behavior, it is time for the Senate to inquire about corruption and other improprieties involving Ukraine.”

Asked by CNN about the invite, Giuliani responded:

CNN asked if Giuliani thinks Trump would waive attorney-client privilege and release him to testify. Giuliani has not yet responded.

Why are we talking about Giuliani here: Giuliani has been vocal since the Ukraine scandal broke, claiming that he has dirt on Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Earlier this month, Giuliani first denied then admitted in an interview on CNN that he asked Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden. Important to note, there is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe Biden or his son.

Giuliani has also been among the people pushing a theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election through “collusion” with Democrats.

The White House Counsel’s office consulted with the State Department to block Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony today.

Why this matters: This is a clear sign that the White House counsel’s office is directing other government agencies.

During a photo op of his meeting with the Estonian foreign minister, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ignored a shouted question about why he blocked Ambassador Sondland’s testimony today.

Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said Republicans understand why the Trump administration’s State Department blocked Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony today.

“You think about what the Democrats are trying to do: Impeach the President of the United States 13 months prior to an election, based on an anonymous whistleblower with no firsthand knowledge who has a bias against the President,” Jordan said.

Jordan added that Republicans were “looking forward” to the testimony.

Some context about Jordan’s comments: Republicans have repeatedly criticized the whistleblower for lacking firsthand knowledge of the conduct outlined in the complaint. But the intelligence community inspector general has pushed back on that criticism, and has made clear that the whistleblower was not simply communicating secondhand knowledge.

The “possible political bias” mentioned — and then dismissed — in the Intelligence Community Inspector General report refers to the fact that the whistleblower is a registered Democrat. The intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, said that regardless of the possible bias, the complaint appeared to be credible.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff said both Congress and the American people are “being deprived” of US Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony today.

Earlier today, Sondland’s lawyer said the Trump administration’s State Department ordered him not to appear before Congress.

Schiff said Sondland has “text messages or emails on a personal device” the committee would like to see.

“Although we have requested those from the ambassador, and the State Department is withholding those messages as well,” Schiff said. “Those messages are also deeply relevant to this investigation and the impeachment inquiry.”

Schiff continued:

President Trump tweeted that if he allowed EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland to testify today, it would be in front of a “a totally compromised kangaroo court.”

This comes after reports that the White House is blocking Sondland from testifying today in the impeachment inquiry.

What’s this all about: A source familiar with discussions inside President Trump’s impeachment team says Ambassador Sondland not appearing is “part of an overall strategy connected to what is viewed as irregularities in the House impeachment inquiry.”

A majority of Americans support the impeachment inquiry, according to a new Washington Post-Schar school poll.

The Post reported that 58% of those surveyed said they support the House inquiry, while 38% oppose it.

Meanwhile, 49% said they support the inquiry and removing Trump from office. Another 6% said they support the inquiry but oppose removing Trump.

Here’s more context from the Washington Post:

“The findings indicate that public opinion has shifted quickly against the president and in favor of impeachment proceedings in recent weeks as information has been released about Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukrainian government officials to undertake an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden, a potential 2020 campaign rival, and Biden’s son Hunter.Those numbers back up other recent polls conducted about impeachment.”

A source familiar with discussions inside President Trump’s impeachment team says Ambassador Gordon Sondland not appearing is “part of an overall strategy connected to what is viewed as irregularities in the House impeachment inquiry.”

Some context: The contrast with how the White House dealt with Special Counsel Robert Mueller is notable. John Dowd, Trump’s former lawyer, once noted Mueller was part of the executive — but Congress is outside and the White House and Trump do not feel an obligation to be as cooperative.

A letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressing White House concerns is expected this afternoon. The letter is “still being massaged,” the source said, but it is expected to indicate the White House strategy moving forward.

Administration officials were in discussions late last night about blocking Ambassador Gordon Sondland from sitting down for his scheduled deposition today, per an official familiar. 

The talks centered around how much the White House should be cooperating with requests from House Democrats without a formal impeachment inquiry vote, which the White House has asserted they need for this to be a legitimate probe, though Democrats have said otherwise.

House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff will speak to reporters at 9:30 a.m. ET about the now-canceled testimony of Ambassador Gordon Sondland and the impeachment inquiry.

Moments ago, Sondland’s lawyer said the State Department ordered the ambassador not to testify today.

US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is “profoundly disappointed” he will not testify before Congress today, his lawyer Robert Luskin said in a statement.

Early this morning, the State Department ordered him not to appear.

“Ambassador Sondland is profoundly disappointed that he will not be able to testify today,” Ruskin said. “Ambassador Sondland hopes that the issues raised by the State Department that preclude his testimony will be resolved promptly.”

Here’s the full statement:

US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was scheduled to testify before three House committees in a closed-door meeting today — but moments ago, the State Department ordered him not to appear.

Here’s what we know about the ambassador:

US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has been told by the State Department to not appear this morning before the House.

His attorney Robert Luskin said Tuesday morning he has no choice but to comply. “He is a sitting Ambassador and employee of State and is required to follow their direction,” Luskin said.

Luskin said Sondland will not appear.

House Democrats are developing a list of ideas to protect the identity of the whistleblower, who is in the unusual position of having been openly targeted by the President of the United States.

It’s still unclear when the whistleblower might ultimately talk with the House Intelligence Committee.

Here’s are some of the ideas they’re discussing:

US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will be on the hot seat today when House investigators press him about text messages he exchanged related to President Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the freezing of foreign aid to Ukraine.

Sondland is appearing behind closed doors before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees as part of the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Here’s what you need to know about him and his testimony today:

The main question, as Democrats move toward impeachment in the House, is whether the Republican-controlled Senate will close ranks around President Donald Trump – or not.

CNN has contacted more than 80 offices for Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate in recent days to ask for a response to Trump’s remarkable public call for foreign governments to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Only a few responded; just a handful have expressed any misgivings to CNN or other outlets.

Why the silence? Trump holds powerful sway over congressional Republicans, largely because he is wildly popular with the same Republican voters who will decide whether to reelect these lawmakers. Most who defy Trump end up out of office, about the last place any politician wants to be.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, October 3, 2019, before boarding Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, and then on to Florida.

Related article Republicans silent on Trump's call to investigate Biden

Three key allies of Giuliani and two State Department officials likely won’t testify this week before the impeachment inquiry. The committee has threatened subpoenas for Giuliani’s associates.

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of Giuliani

Why they’re important:

Semyon “Sam” Kislin

Why he’s important:

Ulrich Brechbuhl, Counselor of the State Department

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent

Why he’s important:

House investigators had hoped for multiple depositions this week, but they may only get two (all behind closed doors).

US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland appears on Tuesday

Why he’s important:

Former US Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch on Friday

Why she’s important:

The Democrats’ impeachment investigation is grinding relentlessly onward. On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is due to give a closed-door deposition and will become the latest official or witness to the President’s dealings with Ukraine to tell his story.

New Democratic subpoenas are flying across Washington with demands for documents on Ukraine hitting the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget. Democrats also warned that if associates of Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani deny requests for documents and depositions they will be compelled to comply.

The President complained on Monday that the Democratic investigation was making it impossible to do his job. But his belligerence and unrestrained conduct in reality is making it hard for Congress to fulfil its constitutional role.

The House Intelligence Committee is discussing extraordinary measures to protect the identity of the whistleblower who set off the impeachment circus by accusing Trump of pressuring Ukraine’s President to investigate Biden in a call.

Among possible measures are the use of an off-site location for any testimony — potentially including highly secure sites at the CIA or at Fort Meade base outside Washington, the home of US Cyber Command.

President Donald Trump speaks as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, left, listen during a briefing with senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Related article Trump lays into Democrats as impeachment net tightens

US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is expected to testify today before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees.

About Sondland: The ambassador is mentioned in a series of text messages between US diplomats and a Ukrainian aide. The messages, which were released last week, show how a potential Ukrainian investigation into the 2016 election was linked to a desired meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Trump.

In one exchange, Sondland seemed to downplay the concerns raised by his counterpart in Kiev.

“Gordon, one thing Kurt and I talked about yesterday was Sasha Danyliuk’s point that President Zelenskyy is sensitive about Ukraine being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington domestic, reelection politics,” Ambassador William “Bill” Taylor, the charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Kiev, wrote on July 21.

Sondland replied, “Absolutely, but we need to get the conversation started and the relationship built, irrespective of the pretext.”

Here are some of the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry into Trump: