Donald Trump ‘Frustrated’ At Staffers Defying His Orders, Testifying Before Impeachment Inquiry, Insiders Say
Donald Trump is secretly becoming increasingly frustrated with his and his administration’s failed attempts to stymie the impeachment inquiry, MSN reports. Multiple witnesses, whom he’d ordered not to cooperate, are defying his orders and testifying anyway, and a recent court ruling dealt a further blow to his efforts to derail the inquiry.
Publicly, Trump puts on an angry and defiant face, insisting that the impeachment inquiry is an illegal, partisan witch hunt, and not denying the narrative that he’s forbidden various officials from testifying before the inquiry. Privately, however, according to White House insiders speaking on condition of anonymity, his frustration with his failure to weaken the Democrats’ inquiry is becoming more and more obvious.
“Witness After Witness”
For example, the administration has ordered multiple staffers and officials not to testify before the House of Representatives. Multiple staffers have defied those orders.
As of this writing, nine “key figures” in the inquiry have provided testimony, including two current ambassadors and one Pentagon official.
What’s more, some of that testimony has been seen as particularly damning. For example, as The L.A. Times reports, diplomat William Taylor testified this week that Trump demanded a quid pro quo from Ukraine: specifically, that Trump, through his personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani and his appointee Gordon Sondland, demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launch two investigations in exchange for military aid.
This is not to say that every last potential witness ordered not to testify has defied such an order; at least some potential witnesses that the impeachment inquiry would like to hear from have steadfastly refused to cooperate.
Losing In The Courts
As witnesses forbidden from testifying continue to defy their orders and testify anyway, Trump is losing another battle against the impeachment inquiry, in court.
Trump has consistently maintained that the impeachment inquiry is neither valid nor constitutional nor legal, due to the fact that the House of Representatives never formally held a vote to authorize the inquiry. This week, Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court in Washington, DC, ruled that the inquiry is in fact, legal, dealing a blow to the administration.
Gearing Up For A Fight
Meanwhile, Trump has been making moves behind the scenes that indicate he’s planning to fight the impeachment inquiry from another angle, having been defied by his subordinates and the courts. Specifically, he’s reportedly brought back Jane and Marty Raskin, two criminal defense attorneys who were part of his team during the Mueller investigation, as well as his attorney Jay Sekulow, and various White House lawyers, to help with the impeachment inquiry.
That he’s reportedly assembling a team is in direct contrast to an earlier statement he made about the subject. As reported at the time by The Inquisitr, Trump said he doesn’t need an impeachment team because “I’m the team.”
