Dr. Kupperman is a private citizen.  He was briefly the National Security Adviser, after John Bolton was abruptly fired.  He has been subpoened to appear at the impeachment inquiry on Monday.  His testimony is important to the Ukraine scandal.  He has been notified by the White House that he should not testify, because he has “Constitutional Immunity,”  the impeachment inquiry is illegal and  his testimony could harm the national security.    His attorney has filed in Federal court, stating that he is unable to comply with both the subpoena and the request from the White House, not to testify.   I guess he has the option of appearing and refusing to answer the questions.

Adam Schiff has responded as follows (Politico):

Democrats, though, cited Howell’s ruling in a Saturday letter to Kupperman blasting his decision to turn to the courts, which they claimed was done in coordination with the White House.

“Dr. Kupperman’s lawsuit—lacking in legal merit and apparently coordinated with the White House—is an obvious and desperate tactic by the President to delay and obstruct the lawful constitutional functions of Congress and conceal evidence about his conduct from the impeachment inquiry,” wrote Reps. Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Carolyn Maloney, the three chairs leading the impeachment inquiry.

“Notwithstanding this attempted obstruction, the duly authorized subpoena remains in full force and Dr. Kupperman remains legally obligated to appear for the deposition on Monday.”

“The deposition will begin on time and, should your client defy the subpoena, his absence will constitute evidence that may be used against him in a contempt proceeding,” they added.

What Schiff is saying makes sense.   The White House can suggest but not demand that Dr. Kupperman not appear and this would be an act of civil disobedience.  We’ll know on Monday what will happen.  Being it is a closed door deposition, it stands to reason that any information that could harm the national security would not be released to the public.  I think Schiff recognizes that there will be a number of  contempt of Congress proceedings, which could bog down the inquiry.  There are many other subpoenas related to documents, which are in non-compliance.  These requests were made to Mike Esper, Mike Pompeo, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Pence.  The list of subpoenas will grow.   I hope Dr. Kupperman appears on Monday as it will be harder for John Bolton to avoid his subpoena.

See my new page on the impeachment inquiry documents.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/25/charles-kupperman-bolton-impeachment-058254