House Panel Subpoenas Former Trump Campaign Manager Lewandowski

(Bloomberg) -- The House Judiciary Committee said Thursday it has subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former White House chief of staff Rick Dearborn to publicly testify in its investigation of whether to pursue presidential impeachment.

Both men are being called to appear on Sept. 17 and discuss Trump’s “extensive efforts to obstruct” Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, New York Representative Jerrold Nadler, the committee’s chairman, said in a statement.

Nadler said the testimony is to be part of hearings and other witness appearances that will “help the Committee determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment against the President or other Article 1 remedies.”

Lewandowski is scheduled to appear with Trump on Thursday at a rally in New Hampshire, where the former aide is considering a challenge to Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen in 2020.

The White House didn’t immediately comment on the committee’s subpoena.

The latest subpoenas were issued as congressional investigations of Trump so far have been stymied by the White House’s refusal to let some current and former officials testify before congressional panels.

Test Case

The Judiciary Committee has filed a lawsuit in federal court to get testimony from one of those officials, former White House Counsel Don McGahn. The suit is a potential test case for whether other witnesses can be forced to testify over White House objections.

Nadler said Lewandowski and Dearborn were also both being “prominently featured in the Special Counsel’s description of President Trump’s efforts to obstruct justice by directing then-White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire the Special Counsel, and then by ordering him to lie about it.”

Lewandowski served as Trump’s campaign manager from January 2015 to June 2016, but has remained in contact with the president. Mueller’s report notes that on June 19, 2017, Trump met with Lewandowski and dictated a message for him to deliver to then Attorney General Jeff Sessions to criticize the probe.

Dearborn served as White House deputy chief of staff for policy. The Mueller report states that Lewandowski had asked Dearborn to deliver the message to Sessions from Trump to limit Mueller’s investigation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann

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