National Security Council official defies request to testify Tuesday in impeachment probe

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN



Washington (CNN)Wells Griffith, a White House adviser on energy, is one of several witnesses called on to testify before House impeachment investigators this week who did not show up Tuesday for a deposition.

He was scheduled to be deposed Tuesday, but he will not comply with impeachment investigators' request, a source involved in the deliberations told CNN. All four witnesses supposed to testify Monday did not show, and several others scheduled for this week have indicated they are not coming.

Griffith is a special assistant to the President and senior director for international energy and environment for the National Security Council. He joined the Trump administration in 2017 as a senior White House adviser for the Department of Energy and then became principal deputy assistant secretary in the department's Office of International Affairs.

At the UN COP24 climate change conference in Poland in 2018, he was mocked by protesters while promoting fossil fuels and coal.


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/05/politics/who-is-wells-griffith/index.html

[cstanleytech]

1. Next Democrat in the DOJ needs to aggressively pursue criminal charges of obstruction against a

number of people at a minimum.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

2. +1...

...eom.

[yaesu]

6. Yep, there is zero that congress can do right now & anything they try will be tied up in courts

for years. Fascism is a very tricky system.

[Midnight Writer]

3. Do these fools really think Trump has their backs?

[AllaN01Bear]

4. where is the seargent at arms and the dc police ?

[Chakaconcarne]

5. DOJ is now saying witnesses need to have lawyers present...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/05/politics/justice-department-memo-ukraine-testimony/index.html

[bpositive]

7. No brainer- Why would you show if there are no consequences

It seems to me there are more consequences if you do go than if you don't.

My prediction: He will be impeached by the House, we will not know the facts for years and they leak out, the senate will give him a pass, he will not be reelected.

Next president will look ahead and not dwell on the past.

It's been pretty hard living up to my name

[Roy Rolling]

8. Energy?

As in Rick Perry?

As in Lev Parnas?

As in extort the Ukraine Gas Company?

Hiding makes sense to him. He chooses to be a defendant not a witness.

[Danascot]

9. I have a question

Can there be any consequences down the road for the WH people who defy Impeachment subpoenas? From what I've been reading the House clearly has broad powers under impeachment and they have no legal basis to defy subpoenas. Can there be fines or jail time at some point? When/if after 2020 we possibly take the senate and the presidency?

These people ought to be facing consequences. I understand that we don't want to be tied up in court proceedings over this for now but I'd like Pelosi or Schiff or Nadler to announce that they'll get back to them at some point and that the consequences will be fines or $10,000/day or a week in jail/day. I would like to have that hanging over their heads, that they will have to pay for their failure to appear at some point. How many of them believe in their heart of hearts that Trump will be able to protect them forever? I would think being aware of the consequences might change some minds about what they are doing now.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. It would probably mean a protracted court fight

although whatever happens with Roger Stone during his trial, may be instructive to the others...