Impeachment news roundup: Nov. 4

President Donald Trump talks to the media on the South Lawn after returning to the White House on Sunday from a trip to New York

Earlier depositions made public while other administration officials stand up House investigators

House Democrats on Monday began releasing transcripts of witness testimony from their impeachment probe of President Donald Trump after holding depositions behind closed doors for the first month.

The chairs of the three committees leading the impeachment panel released transcripts of testimony from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and P. Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo .

Meanwhile, Trump tweeted that Republicans should release their own transcripts of depositions with impeachment witnesses, reiterated his claim that his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was “perfect,” and panned the whistleblower whose complaint accelerated the House impeachment inquiry against him for expressing a willingness to answer written questions.

“Written answers not acceptable!” Trump tweeted, although he provided written answers to questions to Robert S. Mueller III during the former special counsel’s Russian election interference investigation.

Here is the latest on the impeachment inquiry:

What’s in the transcripts?:

In her transcript released Monday, Yovanovitch expresses repeated concern about the influence of the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on the administration’s policy in Ukraine and his efforts to have her removed from her post.

McKinley, who left the State Department earlier this year, told lawmakers he resigned when he did as a result of “two overriding concerns”: the “failure” of the State Department “to offer support to Foreign Service employees” and “what appears to be the utilization of our ambassadors overseas to advance domestic political objectives.”

Excerpts of the transcripts curated by the Democratic chairs of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees for Yovanovitch's testimony and McKinley's testimony were posted online Monday.

“There is no whistleblower”: 

Trump and congressional Republicans rejected an offer from the whistleblower whose concerns about Trump’s call with Zelenskiy accelerated the investigation to answer written questions.

Mark Zaid, the attorney representing the whistleblower, offered Sunday to answer written questions and said Republican efforts to expose the whistleblower’s identity “could jeopardize their safety, as well as that of their family.”

WBer NEWS ALERT:

1/Our legal team offered GOP direct opportunity to ask written questions of #whistleblower.

Recent GOP messaging, led by President Trump (incl this morning), has been to highlight original #WBer & demand disclosure of identity.

— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) November 3, 2019

Trump appeared to put pressure on Republicans on Monday to not take that route and continued to attack the whistleblower as a partisan.

“There is no Whistleblower. There is someone with an agenda against Donald Trump,” the president tweeted Monday morning. “What he was blowing the whistle on didn’t happen. We have the transcript of the call. This is all a farce and no Republican should forget that.”

“There is no Whistleblower. There is someone with an agenda against Donald Trump. What he was blowing the whistle on didn’t happen. We have the transcript of the call. This is all a farce and no Republican should forget that.” @dbongino @foxandfriends

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2019

No-shows: 

All four Trump administration officials scheduled to testify in the impeachment probe Monday are skipping their depositions.

Two are lawyers for the National Security Council, one is a senior adviser to acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney , and the other is the associate director for natural resources, energy and science at the Office of Management and Budget.

One of the NSC lawyers, John Eisenberg, received multiple complaints this summer from NSC officials about the outsized role Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was playing in directing the president’s foreign policy in Ukraine.

Eisenberg is also the administration lawyer who directed others to put the transcript of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelenskiy onto a highly classified server with restricted access after he had received complaints from aides who were alarmed by the substance of the call, according to testimony from NSC Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman that was reported by the Washington Post .

Eisenberg will not give his deposition before the impeachment panel on Monday, citing executive privilege. Mulvaney aide Robert Blair , NSC lawyer Michael Ellis , and OMB energy official Brian McCormack all made clear they will not appear for their scheduled testimony because they are not allowed to bring administration counsel with them, CNN reported .

House Democrats are interested in hearing more from aides to Mulvaney and Energy Secretary Rick Perry after both indicated they are unwilling to testify before impeachment investigators. Mulvaney, Perry, and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland worked closely with Giuliani from within the administration to push for Ukraine to investigate conspiracy theories about Democratic collusion with Ukraine during the 2016 election as well as corruption concerns involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, according to reports of other impeachment witness testimony.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment probe, issued subpoenas Sunday night for testimony from NSC attorney Ellis and Blair, the Mulvaney aide.

Past blow-offs:

The White House has largely stonewalled the production of documents from top officials. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , Vice President Mike Pence , Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, Mulvaney, and Perry have all declined to hand over documents despite subpoenas from Schiff.

At least one called witness, former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman, no-showed his testimony last week and is seeking a federal court’s judgment on whether or not he must testify in accordance with a House subpoena.

The White House has ordered officials called for depositions not to testify, arguing that anyone who has spoken with the president about the matters at the heart of the impeachment probe have “constitutional immunity” from testifying before Congress. Most officials have eventually defied that order once issued a subpoena.

Trump’s taxes:

A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that there is no constitutional basis to block a grand jury subpoena from the district attorney of New York County to an accounting firm for Trump’s financial and tax records.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that a review of historical and legal precedent found that “presidential immunity” does not bar the enforcement of a state subpoena, “even when the subject matter under investigation pertains to the President.”

The subpoena from the New York County district attorney to accounting firm Mazars USA does not require the president to do “anything at all,” the ruling states.

The case in not about “the President’s arrest or imprisonment, or with an order compelling him to attend court at a particular time or place, or, indeed, with an order that compels the President himself to do anything,” the court ruled.

The grand jury is investigating whether several individuals and entities have committed state crimes. Trump’s lawyers challenged the subpoena in September.

Under review:

Fiona Hill, former top Russia and Europe adviser to the NSC, returned to Capitol Hill on Monday to review the records of her testimony in the impeachment inquiry. Witnesses reviewing testimony is part of a process to finalize the transcripts of the closed-door depositions ahead of releasing them to the public.