Monday's Impeachment Depositions Won't Take Long

Four White House officials are scheduled to testify Monday in the House impeachment inquiry, but it won't take long to sum up their words: All four will be no-shows, reports CNN. The White House told the men to skip, arguing in part that subpoenas weren't valid because the officials weren't allowed to bring along attorneys, per the Wall Street Journal. The House panels conducting the inquiry called that argument "baseless." Among those scheduled to testify were White House attorney John Eisenberg, who reportedly proposed the idea of moving a transcript of President Trump's July call with his Ukraine counterpart to a classified server, per the Washington Post.

The three others were Robert Blair, a top adviser to acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; Brian McCormack of the Office of Management and Budget; and White House attorney Michael Ellis. Trump, for his part, took to Twitter on Monday to say that this is all a waste of time. "There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning," he wrote, adding that what he said on the call was "'perfectly' stated." Also Monday, Trump said the whisteblower's offer to answer questions in writing isn't good enough. "He must be brought forward to testify," wrote Trump. (The president also wants the whistleblower named in the media.)