House Democrats on Wednesday withdrew a subpoena for former White House Deputy National Security Adviser Charles Kupperman, less than two weeks after Kupperman asked a federal court whether he should comply with the order.
Kupperman, who left the administration when National Security Adviser John Bolton exited in September, was slated to appear before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees last month as part of their impeachment investigation and the Trump-Ukraine controversy.
Filing last month with U.S. District Court in Washington, Kupperman said he “cannot satisfy the competing demands of both the legislative and executive branches.” He said without the court’s help, he would have to make the decision himself, acknowledging that it could “inflict grave constitutional injury” on either Congress or the presidency.
TRANSCRIPT OF BILL TAYLOR’S TESTIMONY TO IMPEACHMENT PANEL RELEASED
A judge had scheduled a hearing for the matter in December, but that will now likely be canceled.
“The subpoena at issue in this matter has been withdrawn and there is no current intention to reissue it,” the court filing stated. “Therefore, this matter is moot and should be dismissed.”
Kupperman served as a deputy to Bolton, and the National Security Council’s current Russia and Europe director, Tim Morrison.
The subpoena withdrawal comes as the House announced plans to hold public hearings next week as part of the impeachment probe. Three State Department officials will testify in hearings Nov. 13 and Nov. 15, according to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. Schiff is leading the probe.
Schiff tweeted that top Ukraine diplomat William Taylor, career department official George Kent and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will testify. Yovanovitch was ousted in May at Trump’s direction.
All three have previously testified behind closed doors.
The Democrats are investigating Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and his requests for politically motivated investigations while the U.S. was holding on to several hundred million dollars in military aid for the Ukrainians.
Democrats on Wednesday also released hundreds of pages of testimony from Taylor’s time on Capitol Hill.
Taylor told impeachment investigators he understood that the security assistance, and not just a White House meeting for Ukraine’s new president, was conditioned on the country committing to investigations of Trump rival Joe Biden and Democrats’ actions in the 2016 election.
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“That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the president committed to pursue the investigation,” Taylor said.
He was asked if he was aware that “quid pro quo” meant “this for that.”
“I am,” he replied.
The testimony from Taylor further connects the Trump administration to a quid-pro-quo arrangement involving Ukraine that is now at the heart of the House impeachment inquiry.
Fox News’ William Mears, Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
