Washington—Today, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Acting Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter asking Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to appear at a deposition on November 8, 2019, as part of the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry of President Donald J. Trump.

In the letter, the three Chairs write:

“Based on evidence gathered in the impeachment inquiry and public reporting, we believe that you possess substantial first-hand knowledge and information relevant to the House’s impeachment inquiry.  Specifically, 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 a coveted White House meeting and nearly $400 million in security assistance in order to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue investigations that would benefit President Trump’s personal political interests, and jeopardized our national security in attempting to do so.” 

Evidence gathered in the impeachment inquiry and public reporting suggest that Mr. Mulvaney may have played a direct role in the scheme to pressure the Ukrainian government to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election by manufacturing damaging information about President Trump’s political opponents, and the efforts to cover up these activities.

Mulvaney acknowledged in an October 17 press conference that President Trump and the White House blocked nearly $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine in order to further his own personal political interest, rather than the national interest.

On October 4, 2019, the Committees issued a subpoena to Mulvaney for key White House documents as part of the impeachment inquiry. The subpoena has been ignored.

As Mulvaney knows from his previous service in the House of Representatives, both Republican and Democratic-led committees have conducted depositions for decades with high-level White House aides—including White House Chiefs of Staff.

Click here to view the letter to Mr. Mulvaney.

Click here to view the longstanding precedent for congressional depositions.

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