Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday he won’t obey a subpoena from House committees seeking testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry.
Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, told ABC News that if the the committees enforce the subpoena, “then we will see what happens.”
In effect, he’s daring the Democrats to find him in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply.
Tuesday was the deadline for Giuliani to agree to testify.
In the wide-ranging subpoena issued late last month, Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler and Elijah Cummings, the committee chairmen, cited Giuliani’s public admission “that, while serving as the president’s personal attorney, he asked the government of Ukraine to target former Vice President Joe Biden,” ABC says.
Biden is one of Trump’s top opponents in the 2020 election, although the Democrats are not yet close to choosing their nominee.
Addressing Giuliani directly in the subpoena, the congressmen said their committees “have reason to believe that you have information and documents relevant” to the Ukraine investigation.
“Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in the inquiry,” ABC says. “Citing recent testimony by witnesses, Democrats accuse Giuliani of running a shadow foreign policy operation to benefit the Trump campaign. Two Ukrainian-American businessmen who reportedly helped Giuliani to investigate [Biden and his son, Hunter] were indicted last week on campaign finance charges.”
Giuliani is trying to maintain an air of confidence: he revealed Tuesday that he no longer retains a personal lawyer of his own, who had been hired specifically to represent the former New York City mayor in the impeachment matter.
“Giuliani said that if Congress seeks to enforce a subpoena, then he will retain counsel,” says ABC.
