A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. State Department to begin releasing documents within 30 days related to President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine to a watchdog group founded by former Obama administration officials.
Federal Judge Christopher Cooper from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the ruling amid the House Democrats impeachment inquiry with Ukraine at the center.
The documents requested by the watchdog are related to claims that Trump tried to coerce Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, in exchange for aid. Trump and Ukraine have denied the allegation, which triggered the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
It appears that the so-called watchdog group seeking the documents — American Oversight — is helping House Democrats seeking to remove Trump from office.
Austin Evers, the executive director for the organization, described the judge’s ruling to reporters as “a crack in the administration’s stone wall.”
American Oversight is demanding documents similar to the ones pursued by House Democrat impeachment investigators, which the State Department has refused to produce.
“Among the records, the [American Oversight] group asked for are documents related to interactions between Giuliani and Ukraine, as well as documents about the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed to fulfill his legal obligations related to the impeachment probe but noted that his department would take its cue from the White House.
The White House has said it will not cooperate with the “illegitimate” impeachment inquiry. Pompeo missed a subpoena deadline for documents issued by House Democrats conducting the probe.
Judge Cooper directed the State Department to begin delivering records to the so-called watchdog group American Oversight within 30 days.
“The documents and records are of critical importance,” Cooper declared, according to United Press International (UPI).
“These records concern a matter of immense public importance,” Daniel McGrath, a lawyer for American Oversight, proclaimed during arguments in federal court, AP added.
Cooper reportedly agreed.
AP noted:
Cooper encouraged the organization to work with the government to identify which documents can be released because they are not classified or otherwise exempt from disclosure. That could potentially include any correspondence with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer and a key participant in a backchannel diplomacy effort with Ukraine since he is not an administration official.
On the same day as the ruling, the Democrat-led committees pursuing the impeachment probe demanded documents from State.
The committees described the requested documents as: “Central to the inquiry’s core area of investigation: the President’s efforts to press Ukraine to initiate investigations that would benefit his personal and political interests and not the national interest.”
The chairmen of the panels warned:
The Committees consider the refusal to comply with a duly authorized congressional subpoena as obstruction of the lawful functions of Congress and of the impeachment inquiry. … The Committees may draw the inference that their nonproduction indicates that these documents support the allegations against the president and others.
Evers predicted that the Trump administration might find a way to withhold the documents requested by American Oversight.
“It’s possible that this administration will jump through some legal hoops to try to withhold them, but we have the court today urging the parties to focus on those communications as top priority,” the executive director of the organization said.
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