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Letter from Schiff, E. Engel, and Maloney to Kirk and Charles Cooper re: Kupperman Lawsuit Whistleblower Complaint on Ukraine (Kelly Smith, comp.) 1 (10/26/2019)

handle is hein.presidents/usgvtwht0111 and id is 1 raw text is: Cxangress of the Uhith Qftates wslingtonl, act 20515 October 26, 2019 Michael W. Kirk, Esq. & Charles J. Cooper, Esq. Cooper & Kirk PLLC 1523 New Hampshire Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20036 Dear Messrs. Kirk and Cooper: On October 16, 2019, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Oversight and Reform requested that your client, Dr. Charles M. Kupperman, appear voluntarily for a deposition pursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry. You subsequently informed the Committees that Dr. Kupperman would not appear at a deposition on Monday, October 28, 2019, if he did not receive a subpoena by Friday, October 25, 2019. The Committees served your client, through you as counsel, with a duly authorized subpoena yesterday afternoon compelling his appearance for a deposition on Monday, October 28, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter, you informed the Committees that you had filed a 17-page complaint in federal court on behalf of Dr. Kupperman seeking a declaratory judgment as to whether he should comply with the subpoena--even though such a complaint cannot be decided by a court and is legally without merit.' The complaint references an opinion from the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone claiming that Dr. Kupperman is absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony, as well as a letter from Cipollone in which he states that the President directs your client take the extraordinary step of defying a lawful congressional subpoena.2 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. 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. In light of the direction from the White House, which lacks any valid legal basis, the Committees shall consider your client's defiance of a congressional subpoena as additional evidence of the President's obstruction of the House's impeachment inquiry. Such willful 'See Compl., Kupperinan v. US. House of Representatives et al, No. 19 Civ. 3224 (D.D.C. filed Oct. 25, 2019). 2See id. 18 & Ex. B. PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

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