Live updates: Pompeo balks at depositions; Trump questions why he can’t ‘learn everything’ about the whistleblower – The Washington Post

● Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter.

●Three House committees issued a subpoena Monday to Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, demanding he turn over all records pertaining to his contacts regarding Ukraine, the Biden family and related matters.

●Pompeo says State Dept. officials won’t show up for scheduled impeachment depositions this week

Read the whistleblower complaint | The rough transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky | Related coverage and analysis of the Trump impeachment inquiry

12:15 p.m.: RNC chairwoman accuses Democrats of a coup d’etat

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel accused House Democrats of attempting a coup d’etat Tuesday.

McDaniel took to Twitter to share an opinion piece written by former House speaker Newt Gingrich in which he argued that what Democrats are doing has “nothing to do with an impeachment.”

“This is a legislative coup d’etat. It is an effort by the hard left, the news media, and the deep state to destroy the president chosen by the American people,” Gingrich wrote.

“I couldn’t agree more!” McDaniel said in her tweet.

12:05 p.m.: The Ukraine story appears to be hurting Trump — and possibly Biden, too

The Ukraine story has spurred Democrats to announce a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump, and with those developments has come a noted rise in support for impeaching Trump.

But there remains considerable uncertainty among the American public about the Democrats’ underlying Ukraine accusations, according to a new poll. And importantly, a plurality seems to be internalizing Trump and his personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani’s dubious claims of potential wrongdoing by Joe Biden.

The Monmouth University poll shows people broadly disapprove of Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on which Trump asked Ukraine to pursue two investigations that carry potential political benefits for him. Americans say 63 percent to 21 percent that it is “not appropriate” for a president to make such requests of a foreign leader.

Read more here.

— Aaron Blake

12 p.m.: Impeachment inquiry energizing Trump’s online donor base

House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry has generated a flurry of donations through WinRed, the new Republican donation platform designed to capitalize on Trump’s fervent online donor base, officials said Tuesday.

WinRed processed more than $13.7 million in donations from more than 276,000 contributors in the six days since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the impeachment inquiry, officials said Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed to House GOP “nominee funds,” officials said, referring to the vehicles that raise money for Republican challengers to vulnerable Democrats who support the impeachment inquiry.

“Turning major news events into big time fundraising numbers is a key goal of WinRed — and we had a super-charged example of that last week after Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry against President Trump,” WinRed President Gerrit Lansing wrote in a memo released Tuesday.

Since Pelosi’s announcement, Trump and GOP campaign committees have unleashed a massive push for donations in his defense, bombarding his supporters with appeals via emails, texts, tweets and videos. Such solicitations — often capitalizing on newsworthy moments for the president — have been a mainstay of Trump’s fundraising strategy and have fueled his reelection effort.

WinRed launched in June to make it easier for donors to give in smaller amounts online to multiple GOP candidates and causes, seeking to leverage Trump’s appeal to such donors.

Since then, some House GOP members have resisted adopting the platform, but WinRed officials said more campaigns are coming on board. So far, 60 percent of House GOP members, 76 percent of Republican senators and 92 percent of Republican state parties have adopted the platform, they said.

— Michelle Ye Hee Lee

11:45 a.m.: Corey Lewandowski suggests he won’t run for Senate so he can help Trump’s reelection bid

Trump’s former campaign manager and loyal ally Corey Lewandowski said “it’s fair to say” his plans to run for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire may have changed now that Trump is at the center of an impeachment investigation.

“As much as I think I would be a great fighter for the people of New Hampshire, and one U.S. senator can make a difference, it is my priority to make sure the president of the United States is reelected,” Lewandowski said on the radio show, “New Hampshire Today with Jack Heath.”

Lewandowski had pushed back against rumors last week that he’d been tapped to run an impeachment war room at the White House, but said he’d do whatever the president needed.

11:20 a.m.: Sen. Grassley says whistleblower deserves ‘to be heard out and protected,’ but condemns ‘uninformed speculation’

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs and co-founded the Senate Whistleblower Protection caucus, released a statement defending the whistleblower’s actions, but reserved judgment about the facts of the intelligence official’s complaint.

“This person appears to have followed the whistleblower protection laws and ought to be heard out and protected,” Grassley said. “We should always work to respect whistleblowers’ requests for confidentiality.”

But Grassley also said no one should pass judgment before hearing directly from the whistleblower. “Uninformed speculation wielded by politicians or media commentators as a partisan weapon is counterproductive and doesn’t serve the country,” the senator said.

Grassley made sure to distinguish, however, his support for hearing out the whistleblower with the House’s impeachment inquiry, saying that “inquiries that put impeachment first and facts last don’t weigh very credibly.”

11 a.m.: Trump takes fresh aim at Schiff, says he should be ‘brought up on charges’

Trump returned to Twitter late Tuesday morning to take fresh aim at Schiff, suggesting that the House Intelligence Committee chairman should be “brought up on charges” for a statement he made during a hearing last week.

“Why isn’t Congressman Adam Schiff being brought up on charges for fraudulently making up a statement and reading it to Congress as if this statement, which was very dishonest and bad for me, was directly made by the President of the United States?” Trump tweeted. “This should never be allowed!”

In his statement, Schiff offered an embellished re-creation of Trump’s call with Zelensky. Schiff later said that it was meant as parody, which he said should have been obvious to Trump.

10:30 a.m.: Pompeo says State Dept. officials won’t show up for scheduled impeachment depositions this week

The secretary of state fired a broadside at House Democrats on Tuesday, saying State Department officials scheduled to appear this week before committees conducting the impeachment inquiry would not be made available until “we obtain further clarity on these matters.”

The refusal, in a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), described the demand for depositions by five officials who played a role in U.S. relations with Ukraine as “an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly, the distinguished professionals of the Department of State.”

The statements came as Pompeo’s role in the Ukraine investigation broadened with reports that he was a participant in the July 25 call by Trump to the Ukrainian president.

Before that report, first published by The Wall Street Journal, Pompeo had brushed off questions about the incident, saying last week that he had not yet read the transcript of the telephone call released by the White House, or the whistleblower complaint that it sparked.

The committee, along with the House Intelligence and Oversight panels, had requested the five officials to appear for depositions this week and next, to begin Wednesday with Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled by Pompeo as ambassador to Ukraine in May, before the end of her tour.

Read more here.

— Karen DeYoung

10:25 a.m.: Trump’s tweeted electoral map included several errors

A 2016 electoral map tweeted by Trump on Tuesday morning included several errors, depicting some counties that Democrat Hillary Clinton carried as counties that he won.

The map was intended to show the breadth of Trump’s support as Democrats move toward impeachment.

Read more from an analysis by The Post’s Philip Bump here.

9:20 a.m.: Trump calls for learning ‘everything about’ the whistleblower

Trump on Tuesday questioned why he is not “entitled to interview & learn everything about” a whistleblower who filed a complaint against him and whose identity is protected by federal statute.

“So if the so-called ‘Whistleblower’ has all second hand information, and almost everything he has said about my ‘perfect’ call with the Ukrainian President is wrong (much to the embarrassment of Pelosi & Schiff), why aren’t we entitled to interview & learn everything about the Whistleblower, and also the person who gave all of the false information to him,” Trump tweeted. “This is simply about a phone conversation that could not have been nicer, warmer, or better.”

Andrew P. Bakaj, a lawyer representing the whistleblower, sent a letter on Saturday to acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire expressing fears for his client’s safety.

In the letter, Bakaj cited Trump’s remarks last week in which he said whoever gave the whistleblower the information about the call was “close to a spy” and alluded to the death penalty. Bakaj also said that “certain individuals” have issued a $50,000 “bounty” for “any information” relating to his client’s identity.

Trump’s contention that the whistleblower has only second-hand information is at odds with a statement released by Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

9 a.m.: Hillary Clinton calls Trump’s efforts to out the whistleblower ‘really dangerous’

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee defeated by Trump in 2016, warned Tuesday that his efforts to unmask the whistleblower are “really dangerous.”

“From everything we know, and we don’t know much, this is an experienced person who saw things that bothered him,” Clinton said during an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “That’s what the whole whistleblower statute is for, and it’s to protect their identity.”

Hillary Clinton: ‘Carefully thinking through’ not one of Giuliani’s ‘strong points’

On Monday, Trump told reporters that he was trying to “find out about” the anonymous U.S. intelligence official who filed the complaint. In tweets Sunday night, Trump said he wants to meet his “accuser” and warned of “Big Consequences.”

During her ABC appearance, Clinton said she is confident Democrats will not overplay their hand in the impeachment inquiry.

“I think the evidence concerning Ukraine is so dramatic and irrefutable, because it came right out of the White House,” she said. “I know that they will do a thoughtful, thorough job. Nobody should jump to any conclusions.”

Clinton is on a tour to promote “The Book of Gutsy Women,” which she wrote with her daughter, Chelsea.

8:35 a.m.: Giuliani seeks to put focus on Hunter Biden’s business dealings

Giuliani sought Monday to focus attention on the former vice president and his son, Hunter Biden, complaining that the media has not adequately covered the latter’s business dealings in Ukraine and China.

“How corrupted is most of our media if they can’t figure out that Ukraine and China was paying for Biden’s office, not his struggling son’s nonexistent expertise,” Giuliani said. “Every time we lecture them on corruption, they laugh and say you’re no different.”

Trump says Hunter Biden ‘walks out of China with $1.5 billion.’ Biden’s lawyer said that’s not true.

Hunter Biden served for nearly five years on the board of Burisma, Ukraine’s largest private gas company, whose owner came under scrutiny by Ukrainian prosecutors for possible abuse of power and unlawful enrichment.

Hunter Biden was not accused of any wrongdoing in the investigation. As vice president, Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire the top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who Joe Biden and other Western officials said was not sufficiently pursuing corruption cases. At the time, the investigation into Burisma was dormant, according to former Ukrainian and U.S. officials.

Hunter Biden also traveled with his father on Air Force Two to China during his tenure as vice president.

Twelve days later, Hunter Biden joined the board of a just-formed investment advisory firm, known as BHR, whose partners included Chinese entities.

7:15 a.m.: Trump: ‘Try to impeach this’

Trump pinned to the top of his Twitter feed a largely red 2016 election map with the words “Try to impeach this” emblazoned across it.

The map appears to depict counties Trump won in red and those carried by Democrat Hillary Clinton in blue. Because Clinton, for the most part, won more densely populated parts of the country, many of them on the coasts, the map appears largely red even though Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes than Trump, who prevailed in the electoral college.

7:10 a.m.: Trump once again claims his call was ‘PERFECT’

Trump on Tuesday resurrected familiar defenses of his call with Zelensky, calling it “PERFECT” in one of a spate of tweets on the controversy and claiming he is the target of a “HOAX!”

Trump also took fresh aim at Schiff, whom Trump suggested on Monday should be arrested for treason.

“The congratulatory phone call with the Ukrainian President was PERFECT, unless you heard Liddle’ Adam Schiff’s fraudulently made up version of the call,” Trump tweeted. “This is just another Fake News Media, together with their partner, the Democrat Party, HOAX!”

In a statement at a hearing last week, Schiff offered an embellished recreation of Trump’s call with Zelensky. Schiff later said that it was meant as parody, which he said should have been obvious to Trump.

During morning tweets, Trump also shared television clips of several allies defending him, including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.).

In a tweet that included a clip of his appearance Monday night on Fox News, Scalise wrote: “Radicals & socialists have taken over the Democrat Party. They’re calling all the shots now. Just last week, they pressured Pelosi into launching a baseless impeachment inquiry based on false rumors & left-wing rage. This is a witch hunt of @realDonaldTrump, plain & simple.”

During his Tuesday morning tweets, Trump also touched on a few other topics, including a viral video of an airport cart spinning wildly on the tarmac at Chicago’s O’Hare International. In another tweet, he congratulated China on 70 years of Communist rule.

6:30 a.m.: Kamala Harris calls on Twitter to suspend Trump’s account

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) on Monday night called for Twitter to suspend Trump’s account as he continued his attacks on the whistleblower and told reporters he was trying to “find out about” the anonymous U.S. intelligence official who filed the complaint.

“The president’s tweets and his behavior about this are just further evidence of the fact that he uses his power in a way that is designed to beat people down instead of lift people up,” Harris, a 2020 Democratic White House hopeful, said during a CNN appearance. “If you look at what he’s been tweeting today directed at the whistleblower, I frankly think that based on this and all we’ve seen before, including attacking members of Congress, that his Twitter account should be suspended.”

As Trump lashes out at whistleblower, analysts fear law offers meager protection

In his tweets Monday, Trump called the complaint lodged by a whistleblower “a fraud.” In tweets Sunday night, Trump said he wants to meet his “accuser” and warned of “Big Consequences.”

6 a.m.: Inspector general pushes back on claims that whistleblower relied solely on hearsay

Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general, pushed back Monday on repeated claims by Trump and Republican allies that the whistleblower lacked firsthand knowledge of events and based his claim only on “hearsay.”

In a lengthy statement, Atkinson, a Trump appointee, said it was not true that he found the whistleblower could “provide nothing more than second-hand or unsubstantiated assertions.”

“Although the Complainant’s Letter acknowledged that the Complainant was not a direct witness to the President’s July 25, 2019, telephone call with the Ukrainian President, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community determined that other information obtained during the ICIG’s preliminary review supported the Complainant’s allegations,” the statement said.

Fact Checker: Trump’s false claim that the rules for whistleblowers were recently changed

Amid a series of tweets on Monday, Trump promoted the false narrative that has been spread by Republicans in recent days that the intelligence community recently eliminated a requirement that whistleblowers provide direct, firsthand knowledge of alleged wrongdoings. The statute has never required that standard — a point Atkinson also made in his statement.