Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to stop him, United States Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will testify in House Democrats’ impeachment probe against President Donald Trump next week, his lawyers says.

In a Friday morning statement, an attorney for Ambassador Sondland said, “Notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction not to testify, Ambassador Sondland will honor the Committees’ subpoena, and he looks forward to testifying on Thursday.” The statement adds that the diplomat “has no agenda apart from answering the Committees’ questions fully and truthfully.”

Earlier this week, Sondland was scheduled to voluntarily give testimony to a trio of House Committees but was blocked from doing so at the last minute by the Trump administration.

“I would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really good man and great American, to testify,” President Trump said of the decision, “but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public to see.”

The chairmen of the relevant committees responded later that day with a subpoena for Sondland’s testimony and documents related to the investigation.

Sondland’s attorney says that while his client can provide testimony to the impeachment investigation, the subpoenaed documents are another matter entirely. The ambassador “respects the Committee’s interest in reviewing all relevant materials,” the statement explains, “however, federal law and State Department regulations prohibit him from producing documents concerning his officials responsibilities.”

The White House, however, has unequivocally stated that it will not cooperate with the impeachment probe in a letter sent out Tuesday night. Chief among the reasons it listed is the fact that the probe was announced without an authorizing vote of the full House of Representatives, as has been done in past presidential impeachment cases.

Sondland is a key figure in the controversy surrounding President Trump’s communications with Ukrainian government officials. In testimony given last week, former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker told lawmakers that he consulted with Sondland in August about a proposed anti-corruption statement to be given by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the testimony and a corresponding text message, Volker and Sondland discussed whether or not the statement should mention Burisma — the energy company that employed former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter — and allegations of interfering in the 2016 elections. Volker testified that the statement was ultimately scrapped. (For more from the author of “Trump Ambassador’s Lawyer Says He’ll Defy Administration and Testify to Dems’ Impeachment Probe” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

President Trump has granted a posthumous pardon to World War II scientist Zay Jeffries, who helped the U.S. develop artillery shells capable of piercing German tanks’ armor during World War II, the White House announced Thursday.

Jeffries was convicted in 1948 of engaging in anticompetitive conduct that violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. He died in 1965 at age 77.

“One of America’s leading scientists, Dr. Jeffries was crucial to the United States war effort in World War II,” the White House said. “His efforts enabled the United States to develop artillery shells capable of piercing the armor of German tanks, and his contributions to the Manhattan Project helped end the war in the Pacific theater.”

While he was indicted in 1941, Jeffries still “proved vital to the war effort, prompting Secretary of War [Henry] Stimson to take the extraordinary step of requesting, with President Roosevelt’s approval, that the attorney general defer any prosecution until after the war,” according to the White House.

“When the Department of Justice returned to the case in 1947, it grounded its legal theory on a Supreme Court precedent that did not exist when Dr. Jeffries was originally indicted,” the White House said. (Read more from “Trump Pardons World War II Scientist” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

The Democratic-led impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump poses serious risks to former Vice President Joe Biden and a possible roadmap for Republicans trying to defend the president.

If history is any indication, then Democrats could give House Republicans the ability to subpoena testimony from Biden or his son, Hunter Biden. The majority parties who sought to impeach former presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton granted their minority opponents such powers. . .

Even if Pelosi gives Republicans a vote, then she still might not allow them the power to subpoena, Julian Epstein, former attorney for the committee during Clinton’s impeachment, told reporters.

Denying them that opportunity would likely give Trump and his defenders a new issue to find fault with, namely that House Democrats are denying the president due process. “It could spell those things out or doesn’t have to,” Epstein said, adding: “it gives them a soapbox on which to argue process.”

The inquiry is a result of Trump’s decision in July to ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the claim that Biden pressured the country into firing a prosecutor who was looking into Hunter’s business ties. There is no evidence that Biden made the move to protect his son from a probe. (Read more from “Here’s How a Formal Vote on the Impeachment Inquiry Could Help Republicans and Hurt Democrats Ahead of 2020” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE