Perry won’t comply with subpoena in impeachment inquiry

WASHINGTON - Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Friday did not adhere to a deadline to produce subpoenaed documents relevant to an impeachment inquiry that has increasingly shown Trump orchestrating an effort to pressure Ukraine to dig up dirt on a potential 2020 political rival.

Perry, who plans to leave the administration by the end of the year, initially said he wasn’t sure whether he would comply with the House subpoena and deferred to his counsel. The subpoena specifically seeks information related to his involvement in the July call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

In a letter to House Democrats, Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Melissa Burnison argued the impeachment inquiry was illegitimate, adding the House had not adopted a resolution authorizing an investigation.

"Even if the inquiry was validly authorized, much of the information sought in the subpoena appears to consist of confidential Executive Branch communications that are potentially protected by privilege and would require careful review to ensure that no such information is improperly disclosed," Burnison wrote.

Burnison also reiterated Trump's position that the inquiry "lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness or even the most elementary due process protections."

[Impeachment inquiry shows Trump at the center of Ukraine efforts against rivals]

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and his Republican allies on Friday seized on a Washington Post report that a career State Department official overseeing Ukraine policy told congressional investigators this week that he had raised concerns in early 2015 about Hunter Biden serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

Their efforts to highlight the report came as fractures have appeared in the GOP firewall of support for Trump. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., said he couldn't rule out voting to impeach Trump and said he's had Watergate on his mind.

Rooney's comments echoed that of Democrats abuzz about White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney's acknowledgment at a Thursday news conference that Trump withheld nearly $400 million military aid in part to pressure Ukraine to pursue an investigation that could benefit him politically. The White House later scrambled walk back Mulvaney's comments.

"I was shocked that he said that stuff," Rooney said Friday. "When the president has said many times there wasn't a quid pro quo. . . . . and now Mick Mulvaney goes up and says, 'Yeah, it was all part of the whole plan!'"

As for the political consequences of possibly voting for Trump's impeachment, Rooney said, "I didn't take this job to keep it. . . . I took this job to do the right thing at all times."

The Washington Post report Republicans cited said that George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, testified Tuesday that he worried that Hunter Biden's position at the firm Burisma Holdings would complicate efforts by U.S. diplomats to convey to Ukrainian officials the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest.

“He excoriated the Obama administration and Joe Biden and Joe Biden’s son, saying that he has tremendous problems, tremendous problems with Joe Biden’s son and the Ukraine,” Trump told reporters Friday.

Trump declined an opportunity to clarify Mulvaney's comments.

[Trump taps Perry deputy to replace him at Energy Department]

Also Friday, a deposition planned for a senior career official at the Defense Department was postponed until next week. House investigators expect Laura Cooper to provide details about the nearly $400 million in military aid that was withheld from Ukraine as Trump pressed the country's president to investigate Biden and his son.

House investigators plan to resume several closed-door depositions next week, beginning Tuesday with acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor.

Taylor, on text messages with two other U.S. diplomats, raised alarms about the White House holding back military aid to Ukraine, calling it "crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."

On Wednesday, lawmakers are expected to hear from Ambassador Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, and Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget. Duffey's signature was on the letters reapportioning the Ukraine aid.

On Thursday, Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense whose portfolio includes Russia and Ukraine, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director of European Affairs on the National Security Council, are expected to testify.

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The Washington Post’s Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.