House Democrats Threaten to Subpoena White House for Ukraine Records in Impeachment Inquiry

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced on Wednesday that House Democrats will subpoena the White House for documents related to the July phone call between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, if the Trump administration does not respond to requests for the documents. The House Oversight Committee first requested the documents on Sept. 9, according to a memo issued Wednesday by Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD). Cummings said in his memo that the White House’s “flagrant disregard of multiple voluntary requests for documents—combined with stark and urgent warnings from the Inspector General about the gravity of these allegations—have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena.”

The subpoena would be the first critical move in the rapidly unfolding impeachment inquiry that Pelosi backed just last week. “We find this to be a very sad time for our country,” Pelosi said at a press conference on Wednesday. “This is not anything to be joyful about... Thomas Paine said: ‘The times have found us,’ I think the times have found us.” If the White House does not respond to the initial request for documents, the subpoena will be issued Friday, according to the memo.