Trump news: White House 'faces serious consequences' over president's order that aides refuse to cooperate with investigations
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has lost a lawsuit seeking to stop his accounting firm handing over financial records to a US House of Representatives committee, just as the investigation into his connection to Russian meddling has heated up in Congress.
US district judge Amit Mehta said it was "simply not fathomable that a constitution that grants congress the power to remove a president for reasons including criminal behaviour would deny congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct".
Accountants Mazars LLP have been ordered to comply with a House of Representatives Oversight Committee subpoena within seven days.
The ruling came as the US president hit the campaign trail for a rally in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, where he joked about serving five terms in the White House.
"Now we're going to have a second time," he told supporters. "Maybe if we really like it a lot and if things keep going like they're going, we'll go and we'll do what we have to do. We'll do a three and a four and a five."
Meanwhile, House Democrats have issued subpoena for some key former White House advisers to testify, including former communications director Hope Hicks and the former chief of staff to Don McGahn, who previously served as the White House counsel.
Mr McGahn made some news of his own, too, when he refused to honour a subpoena from House Democrats — leading to threats from the group as they seek to perform constitutional oversight on the president.
Mr Trump had asked his former White House counsel not to testify.
House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler has said that "our subpoenas are not optional" as former White House counsel Don McGahn failed to appear before his panel today.
Mr McGahn was due to testify before Congress today, but failed to show up after Donald Trump told him not to testify about the Mueller report and his involvement in that investigation.
"When this committee issues a subpoena, even to a senior presidential adviser, the witness must show up," he said, noting that he believes the witness did not show up because of the president.
"Mr McGahn has a legal obligation to be here for this scheduled appearance. If he does not immediately correct his mistake, this committee will have no choice but to enforce the subpoena against him."
Meanwhile, representative Adam Schiff has threatened that he believes Donald Trump's attempts to subvert Congress by stonewalling the investigations are leading towards impeachment.
Here's more from Mr Nadler this morning:
"We will not allow the President to prevent the American people from hearing from this witness. We will not allow the President to block congressional subpoenas, putting himself and his allies above the law."
Attorney general William Barr — who has been criticized for giving Donald Trump a pass while unveiling the Mueller report — has said part of his motivation for joining the Justice Department was because he felt the president wasn't being treated well.
"I felt the rules were being changed to hurt Trump, and I thought it was damaging for the presidency over the long haul," Mr Barr told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday.
"At every grave juncture the presidency has done what it is supposed to do, which is to provide leadership and direction," Mr Barr continued. "If you destroy the presidency and make it an errand boy for Congress, we’re going to be a much weaker and more divided nation."
The Trump administration is reportedly planning on issuing another round of aid to farmers who have been hurt by Donald Trump's trade war with China, according to Bloomberg News.
Sources told reporters there that the Trump administration is considering $2 per bushel payments for soybeans, alongside other aid.
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