Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has stood up Democrats in their impeachment inquiry, skipping his Friday morning deposition as Democrats wrap up closed-door interviews and move into a public phase of the investigation, per the AP. Democrats subpoenaed Mulvaney late Thursday as the White House signaled that he wouldn't appear. An official working on the inquiry said Mulvaney's lawyer informed the committees leading the impeachment probe one minute before the deposition was supposed to start that Mulvaney had been directed not to comply with the subpoena. Mulvaney's lawyer said he has "absolute immunity," a claim that Democrats have challenged in court for other administration witnesses.
The Democrats subpoenaed Mulvaney because other testimony indicated he "could shed additional light on the president's abuse of the power of his office for his personal gain," according to the official, who declined to be identified. Mulvaney said in a news conference last month that the Trump administration's decision to hold up military aid was linked to Trump's demand for the investigations. He later walked back his remarks, but Democrats said that was tantamount to a confession and have cited it as evidence in their inquiry. Trump said Friday that he thought Mulvaney would "do great" and "I'd love to have him go up," but that he didn't want to validate what he calls a "corrupt" investigation. "I don't want to give credibility to a corrupt witch hunt," Trump told reporters.
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