Ex-Trump campaign leader Lewandowski will testify at impeachment hearing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump's campaign director and close confidant, Corey Lewandowski, is scheduled to testify on Tuesday in Congress, despite White House efforts to stop him from talking about Trump's alleged efforts to hinder Federal investigation into the Russian interference 2016 presidential election.

Late Monday night, the White House asked Lewandowski not to discuss the conversations he had with Trump after he became president, including an exchange in the White House that Democrats consider a proof that Trump was obstructing to justice and perhaps had to be indicted.

Lewandowski, who runs in the US Senate, is the first witness to appear before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee since former special adviser Robert Mueller testified in July about his investigation into the issue. 39 Russian electoral interference and Trump's alleged impeachment efforts on the investigation. .

The Democrats, hoping to decide whether or not to recommend Trump's removal to the House of Representatives by the end of the year, wanted to let Lewandowski know that the president had tried to persuade the Attorney General of the time , Jeff Sessions, to deflect Mueller's investigation of Trump's 2016 campaign.

The episode is part of a number of incidents cited in the 448-page Mueller Russian inquiry report, which Democrats see as evidence that Trump has prevented justice.

Mueller did not determine whether Trump was obstructing justice, but did not exempt him from any wrongdoing.

White House lawyer Pat Cipollone told the committee Monday in a letter that Lewandowski could not testify about conversations with Trump after his accession to the presidency or with his key advisers.

The White House also ordered two other witnesses, former Trump White House associates Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn, not to testify. In Cipollone's letter, they were "absolutely immune from the compelling testimony of Congress regarding matters related to their services as the president's chief advisers."

Judicial Committee Chairman Democrat Jerrold Nadler called the White House decision "a shocking and dangerous claim to executive power and absolute immunity".

"If he had to prevail in this concealment while the Judiciary Committee was considering the possibility of recommending indictments, it would reverse the separation of powers contemplated by our founders," Nadler said in a statement. , referring to Trump.

A spokeswoman for Lewandowski, who had said earlier that the former campaign manager would cooperate fully with the committee, was not available to comment.

A Dearborn lawyer said he advised his client to comply with White House instructions. Porter could not be reached for comment.

& # 39; PASSIONATE & # 39;

Described by Mueller as a Trump "passionate" with a "close" relationship with the president, Lewandowski announced his intention to defend Trump. "I want to go there and remind the American people that these guys are on the witch hunt," said the former campaign manager at Fox News Radio on August 16th.

Republicans say the investigation in the Mueller case has revealed no evidence of Trump's wrongdoing and denounces the Democrats' indictment investigation. as a theatrical act intended to please the voters.

In June 2017, Trump met Lewandowski, then a private citizen, at the White House and dictated to him a message that he was to convey to the sessions. The message indicated that the sessions should shift the focus of the Russian inquiry on future elections despite its disqualification from the investigation.

At a second meeting a month later, Trump asked what was the tenor of the message and said that Lewandowski should "tell Sessions that he was fired" if he would not meet with him. Former campaign manager, according to the Mueller report.