White House’s Mulvaney to sue over House impeachment subpoenas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on Monday withdrew his request to join a lawsuit seeking a court ruling on whether witnesses must testify in the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, saying he would bring his own case, according to a court document.

Mulvaney earlier had sought to participate in a lawsuit filed by Charles Kupperman, a former deputy to ousted national security adviser John Bolton, seeking a court ruling on whether he should comply with a congressional subpoena or honor the Trump administration’s order not to testify.

Mulvaney withdrew the request following a conference call held by the judge assigned to Kupperman’s lawsuit, which was closed to media.

Mulvaney said in a one-page court filing that he intended to “refile” his claims “in the matter discussed on this evening’s telephonic conference, as a separate related case.”

Last week, House Democrats withdrew their subpoena to Kupperman, saying they did not want to delay the impeachment investigation, and asked a judge to dismiss the litigation as moot.

House investigators issued a subpoena to Mulvaney last week, demanding that he testify about his knowledge of Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine.

Congressional Democrats are trying to determine whether Trump withheld the assistance to pressure Ukraine’s government to investigate the son of former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, one of Trump’s main rivals as he seeks re-election next year.

Trump denies any wrongdoing.

Mulvaney has emerged as a central figure in the impeachment inquiry, in part due to his statement at an Oct. 17 news conference that the White House had withheld security assistance for Ukraine.

“I have news for everybody: Get over it. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy,” Mulvaney said at the time, although he later contradicted himself.

Before becoming acting chief of staff, Mulvaney ran the White House Office of Management and Budget, which made the decision to block nearly $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine last summer.