Lawyer of the US president Rudy Giuliani looks on before the US president announces his Supreme Court nominee in the East Room of the White House on July 9, 2018 in Washington, DC.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty ImagesRudy Giuliani said Tuesday that he will defy a subpoena from House committees that are conducting an impeachment probe of his legal client, President Donald Trump, according to several reports.The committees had given Giuliani until Tuesday to turn over documents related to Ukraine. Giuliani, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, has pushed the government of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden in connection with what Giuliani has claimed was improper past pressure by Biden on Ukraine to remove a prosecutor in that country.That push has put Trump at risk of impeachment after the president both supported that effort and withheld military aid from Ukraine as he did so this summer. Congressional Democrats had launched an impeachment inquiry after learning Trump may have tied official actions to a foreign country investigating Biden, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.”Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena, including at the direction or behest of the President or the White House, shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you and the President,” the committees said in a letter to Giuliani last month.The subpoena was issued by the House Intelligence, Oversight, and Foreign Affairs committees.Both ABC News and The Wall Street Journal reported that Giuliani had directly told those outlets that he would not comply with the subpoena.At the same time, Giuliani not longer is using the legal services of Jon Sale, a former assistant special prosecutor in the Watergate case, in connection with the subpoena. Sale had only been retained by Giuliani in early October.Giuliani did not immediately return a request for comment from CNBC.Former White House official Fiona Hill reportedly told Congress in a closed-door deposition on Monday that then-national security advisor John Bolton was so worried about the pressure on Ukraine by Giuliani and others that he told Hill to alert the chief lawyer for the National Security Council.Bolton euphemistically called that effort a “drug deal,” The New York Times reported, citing sources familiar with Hill’s testimony.And Bolton reportedly called Giuliani a “hand grenade.”Giuliani said, “I always liked and respected John” Bolton, according to NBC News.””I’m very disappointed that his bitterness drives him to attack a friend falsely and in a very personal way. It’s really ironic that John Bolton is calling anyone else a hand grenade,” Giuliani said. “When John is described by many as an atomic bomb.”This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
