WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House has instructed two former aides to President Donald Trump not to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, saying Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter are “absolutely immune” from testifying at what the panel is calling its first impeachment hearing.
In a letter sent to the panel and obtained by The Associated Press, White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote that the Justice Department has advised – and Trump has directed – Dearborn and Porter to defy subpoenas because of “constitutional immunity.” Lawyers for both men said they would follow Trump’s orders.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who never worked for the White House, is expected to attend the hearing as its sole witness on Tuesday. In a separate letter, Cipollone said Lewandowski should not reveal private conversations with Trump beyond what is already public in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler invited the three men to testify at the hearing as part of the panel’s probe into Mueller’s report and what Nadler is calling an “aggressive series of hearings” this fall to determine whether Trump should be impeached. But the committee has so far been hobbled by the White House’s blockade of witness testimony and document requests, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to wait to see what happens in court before making a decision on impeachment.
FILE – In this Jan. 17, 2018, file photo, Rick Dearborn, President Donald Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs, walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, where he is being interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee regarding the Russia probe. The White House has instructed Dearborn and another former aide to President Donald Trump not to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019, saying Dearborn and Rob Porter are “absolutely immune” from testifying at what the panel is calling its first impeachment hearing. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)Cipollone wrote that Dearborn and Porter were advised not to attend “because of the constitutional immunity that protects senior advisers to the president from compelled congressional testimony, and in order to protect the prerogatives of the Office of President.”