Three Democratic Committee Chairman – Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight Committee; Adam Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee; and Eliot Engel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee – came together on Friday to issue a subpoena against the White House as part of the House's impeachment inquiry. The Committees sent a letter to Acting Chief of Staff John Mulvaney, demanding documents be provided by October 18th.
"The Committees are investigating the extent to which President Trump jeopardized national security by pressing Ukraine to interfere with our 2020 election and by withholding security assistance provided by Congress to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression, as well as any efforts to cover up these matters," the letter reads.
According to the Committee leaders, the "White House has refused to engage with – or even respond to – multiple requests for documents from our Committees on a voluntary basis," something they say constitutes "stonewalling."
President Trump made it known he would not cooperate with an impeachment inquiry unless the full House of Representatives voted on moving forward with the process.
The Committee Chairmen made it known they disagree with Trump's analysis of the situation, saying a full vote from the House is not needed to move forward with a formal impeachment inquiry.
"A vote of the full House is not required to launch an impeachment inquiry, and there is no authority of the White House to make this claim," the letter reads. "There is no such requirement in the Constitution or in the House Rules."
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According to the three men, the full House doesn't need to vote on the inquiry because they adopted the rules, "which provide the Oversight Committee with its own independent oversight and legislative jurisdiction to investigate these matters – including authority to issue subpoenas to the White House."
Trump said earlier in the day he would leave it "up to the lawyers" to decide whether or not the White House would comply with Congressional subpoenas.
Read the full letter below:
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