NEW YORK — Federal lawmakers slapped former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani with a subpoena Monday as part of an investigation that could lead to President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
Three House of Representatives committees demanded Giuliani’s communications with Trump administration officials about his work to press Ukraine to open investigations that could help the president’s 2020 re-election campaign.
The subpoena came just days into the formal impeachment inquiry that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched last week amid revelations Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Giuliani has admitted he urged Ukrainian officials on Trump’s behalf to investigate Biden, against whom the country’s former top prosecutor reportedly has said there was no evidence of wrongdoing. The two-term Big Apple mayor also showed off copies of text messages last week that he said proved Trump administration officials knew about and endorsed his actions.
The House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees now want Giuliani to hand over those texts along with phone records, other communications and “related documents,” according to a letter they sent Giuliani on Monday.
“Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena, including at the direction or behest of the President or the White House, shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you and the President,” the letter reads.
Giuliani did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment on the subpoena. But he said in a Sunday television interview he “wouldn’t cooperate” with Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, one of the panels that issued the subpoena.
Giuliani said his level of cooperation with House lawmakers will be guided by Trump, whom he is representing as an attorney.
“If he decides that he wants me to testify, of course I’ll testify, even though I think Adam Schiff is an illegitimate chairman,” Giuliani said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “He has already prejudged the case.”
Giuliani has vigorously defended his actions in recent days while continuing to lodge various corruption allegations against Joe and Hunter Biden. The Bidens reportedly have denied wrongdoing, and many of Trump’s and Giuliani’s accusations have been debunked.
“I’m not acting as a lawyer. I’m acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government,” Giuliani told The Atlantic on Thursday. “Anything I did should be praised.”