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Judge Dismisses Impeachment Witness’ Lawsuit Over Congressional Subpoena

Judge Richard Leon said Charles Kupperman’s lawsuit was unnecessary after the House withdrew its subpoena.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from one of President Trump's ex-national security officials, Charles Kupperman, which challenged a congressional subpoena for him to testify in the impeachment inquiry. According to CNN, Judge Richard Leon wrote that the House had withdrawn the subpoena back in November and told the court it had no current intention of reissuing it—making the lawsuit unnecessary. “Have no doubt though, should the winds of political fortune shift and the House were to reissue a subpoena to Dr. Kupperman, he will face the same conflicting directives that precipitated this suit,” Leon wrote in his opinion. “If so, he will undoubtedly be right back before this Court seeking a solution to a Constitutional dilemma that has long-standing political consequences.”

Kupperman did not have a long tenure within the Trump White House, but he listened in on President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—in which Trump pushed Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.