Senior White House Official Summoned To Testify In Impeachment Inquiry

By Staff, Agencies

US Congressional Democrats on Tuesday summoned President Donald Trump's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for a deposition in impeachment probe, saying he has "substantial first-hand knowledge" of Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine.

"The investigation has revealed that you may have been directly involved in an effort orchestrated by President Trump, his personal agent, Rudolph Giuliani and others to withhold... nearly $400 million in security assistance in order to pressure [Ukraine] to pursue investigations that would benefit Trump's personal political interests," the chairmen of the three committees leading the probe wrote.

The White House, however, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mulvaney is the highest-ranking White House official to be summoned in the impeachment probe, although he is unlikely to testify on Friday as requested given the White House's opposition to administration officials cooperating with the probe.

Last week on Thursday, the US House formally opened a new, public phase of its presidential investigation.

Trump is accused of pressuring his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, one of the front-runners in the Democratic race, and his son Hunter Biden, some $400 million of US aid as leverage.