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A US district judge has ordered Donald Trump’s former White House counsel Don McGahn to comply with a subpoena issued by House Democrats – originally in response to the Mueller report – that could see him testify to the impeachment inquiry.
In her ruling, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson asserted that "presidents are not kings" and ruled that Mr McGahn — whom the president pressured to deny that he wanted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, according to the report — must appear before Congress.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, told reporters on Tuesday that "we not only have a right, we have a duty" to investigate those leads.
Meanwhile, First Lady Melania Trump was met with a chorus of boos from a crowd of young people at an opioid awareness event in Baltimore, which the president has previously called a "disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess".
Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal
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She later said, in a statement, that "we live in a democracy and everyone is entitled to their opinion."
She later joined Mr Trump outside the White House for the president's annual turkey "pardoning" ahead of Thanksgiving. Bread and Butter were both spared, but not before Mr Trump swiped at Congressional Democrats, Adam Schiff and members of the press.
Congress continued to push back at the administration, first in a House Budget Committee report that found the White House's Office of Management and Budget engaged in a "pattern of abuse" by withholding aid to Ukraine, and then in a lawsuit aimed at top administration officials over documents that Democrats believe will answer why the administration wanted to include citizenship status in the 2020 Census.
In other news, Mr Trump has reportedly appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner, already tasked with bringing peace to the Middle East, to oversee the construction of his US-Mexico border wall, as the row over his decision to absolve Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher of war crimes rumbles on.
The president has granted his pardon to Butter, the turkey, which means its counterpart Bread is... also going to Gobbler's Rest, per tradition. Both turkeys benefit from the pardon.
Mr Trump took the photo opportunity to take a swipe at Democrats and the impeachment inquiry, saying both turkeys have received subpoenas from Adam Schiff and are set to appear in his "basement."
The president also said the pardoning ceremony is popular with the press because turkey are "closely related to vultures."
House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler is asking for the president to provide notice whether he'll appear at his own impeachment hearing no later than 6 pm on 1 December.
He's also asked for Trump to tell him who his counsel is.
Meanwhile, the president has finally lost his long-running legal battle over a wind energy development near his golf resort in Scotland.
His company has to pay Scotland £225,000.
Mr Trump's company operating the property in Aberdeenshire was embroiled in a three-year-long battle to block an offshore renewable energy plan that Mr Trump said would ruin the view from the green.
The Trump International Golf Club Scotland posted annual losses of more than £1m in 2018, the seventh consecutive year it failed to turn a profit, according to reports.
Congress reports 'unlawful' behaviour at White House budget office over Ukraine aid
The House Budget Committee reports that the White House's Office of Management and Budget engaged in a "pattern of abuse" by withholding aid to Ukraine.
In a summary of documents it obtained from the White House budget office, the committee assembled a timeline that details a plan to withhold aid days before a phone call between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that's at the heart of the impeachment probe.
The same day of the call, an official within OMB signed off on formally withholding $250 million in Pentagon funds for Ukraine. Those funds were not released until 12 September.
The committee said the OMB's "unlawful" behaviour — including a new political appointee's retention of a "significant" amount of Ukraine aid until the end of the fiscal year — could spur legislation to prevent the OMB from limiting or delaying congressionally approved aid in the future.
The president is on his way to Mar-a-Lago ahead of a "homecoming" rally in Sunrise, Florida.
It's his third rally in Florida this year and his 19th rally in 2019.
Melania Trump, meanwhile, issued a statement following her appearance in Baltimore, which the president has previously called a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" where "no human being would want to live":
House committee sues Trump administration for documents related to the 2020 census citizenship question
Donald Trump is facing yet another lawsuit this week.
A House committee has sued Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for the release of documents relating to the president's attempt to add a citizenship status question to the 2020 census.
The lawsuit filed in US District Court follows a Supreme Court decision that called the Trump administration's reasoning for the plan "contrived."
Democrats hope the documents will reveal that the administration's on-record defence of adding a census question — which officials argued was to enforce the Voting Rights Act — was intended to dissuade noncitizens from participating in the survey, thereby intentionally altering the data that helps determine how voting districts are drawn and what kinds of federal assistance they can receive.
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