UPDATE 1-White House attempting gambit to slow House impeachment push

President Donald Trump's bitter fight against an impeachment inquiry has not slowed down the Democrats' push to investigate whether he sought personal political gain by urging Ukraine to probe Democratic opponent Joe Biden. But in a new tactic, the White House plans to argue that U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi must have the full House vote to formally approve an impeachment inquiry, a source familiar with the effort said.

Without a vote, White House lawyers believe Trump can ignore lawmakers' requests, the source said, meaning the federal courts would presumably have to render a decision and potentially slow the march toward impeachment. A White House letter arguing Pelosi must hold a House vote could be sent to Capitol Hill as early as Friday, the source said. It comes as the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee plans to issue more subpoenas in the coming days as it pushes ahead with the investigation.

Trump's gambit is emerging at the end of a storm-tossed week for him as the president lashed out at Democrats, reporters and anyone else standing in his way to air complaints that he was being unfairly accused and had done nothing wrong. Democrats want to prove Trump sought personal political gain by appealing to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who earned money from a Ukrainian gas company.

Joe Biden, the former vice president, leads in most opinion polls among the 19 Democrats seeking their party's nomination to take on Trump in the November 2020 election. Ukraine's new top prosecutor on Friday said he was not aware of any evidence of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden.

Trump sees the impeachment probe as a harassing follow-up to the Russia investigation that failed to knock him out of office over accusations that he colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign. In a new wrinkle, Trump said on Thursday that "China should start an investigation into the Bidens" over Hunter Biden's business ties to China, again inviting foreign interference in a U.S. presidential election.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China experts said Beijing was unlikely to act on Trump's invitation. Administration officials did not know Trump was going to raise the issue of China but said he had talked about it previously and they were not surprised by it, two sources familiar with the situation said.

Trump's appeal to China was particularly striking given that Washington and Beijing are locked in a bitter trade war that has damaged global economic growth. They are due to hold another round of talks in the United States next week. 'GRAVE CONCERNS' OVER TEXTS

On Thursday, Kurt Volker, who resigned a week ago as Trump's special representative for Ukraine negotiations, became the first high-profile figure in the Ukraine controversy to testify to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and staff of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight Committees. Volker testified for more than eight hours and turned over text messages between himself, diplomats in Kiev and others involved with Ukraine that provided the first insider account of last summer's negotiations between Washington and Kiev.

On the morning of July 25, shortly before Trump's call with Zelenskiy, Volker told one Zelenskiy adviser that a meeting between the countries' two leaders was tied to Kiev's agreement to investigate the 2016 election. "Heard from the White House -- assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate/'get to the bottom of what happened' in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington," Volker wrote.

Later messages between the aide, Andriy Yermak, and Volker showed dueling efforts to lock in a date for a Trump-Zelenskiy meeting and to issue a statement from Kiev announcing a "reboot" of relations along with the probes into the Burisma energy company and any 2016 election meddling. In a separate exchange last month, another top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine wrote that it was "crazy" to withhold military aid for the country as it confronted Russian aggression, according to copies of the messages released by the panel's Democratic chairmen, who noted their "grave concerns."

The cache also included messages from Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who played a major part in the administration's dealing with Kiev. On Friday, Michael Atkinson, who is the inspector general of the intelligence community, is expected to testify before lawmakers in another closed-door session centered on his review of the whistleblower's complaint that lies at the heart of the Democratic complaint.

Members of the House Intelligence Committee will return to Washington from their home districts on Friday for the interview with Atkinson, who had determined the complaint raised issues of "urgent concern." U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, the committee's Democratic chairman, confirmed that Atkinson would appear, but the committee has been extremely tight-lipped about any details, refusing to disclose the time of his appearance.

 

Also Read: In growing Ukraine turmoil, Joe Biden's son is thrust into limelight he never sought

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