The latest on the Trump impeachment inquiry

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that President Trump asked Energy Secretary Rick Perry to work with Rudy Giuliani on policies related to Ukraine, but he denied doing so constituted a “shadow foreign policy,” as multiple witnesses have said Giuliani conducted.

Mulvaney said this took place during a May meeting at the White House that was attended by Perry, Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine.

Mulvaney added he "wasn’t asked” to work with the President’s personal lawyer.

Mulvaney said the administration was “very interested in trying to get Ukraine as an energy partner,” and said that is why Perry was involved.

He characterized the President’s instruction as: "Yeah, go ahead and talk to Rudy."

Asked about witness testimony about Giuliani’s “shadow foreign policy,” Mulvaney argued that is a “pejorative” term.

Mulvaney argued it was fine for the President to have made the request of Perry because Sondland, who is testifying today on Capitol Hill, and Volker were in the room. However, Ukraine is not a member of the EU and so Sondland’s outsize role, as ambassador to the EU, has come into question during the impeachment proceedings.

Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters today that aid to Ukraine was in fact tied to President Trump’s wish for an investigation into the 2016 election.

When asked about the decision to withhold aid from Ukraine, Mulvaney told reporters that President Trump told him at the time, "This is a corrupt place. Everyone knows this is a corrupt place…Plus, I'm not sure that the other European countries are helping them out either.”

Mulvaney also added, “Did he also mention me in the past that the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely. No question about that."

When questioned on Mulvaney saying that the White House held up security money from Ukraine until the president got assurances, Mulvaney told reporters to “get over it” saying there are going to be political impacts on foreign policy.

A reporter then questioned Mulvaney on his explanation saying it sounds like a quid-pro-quo to which Mulvaney said: “We do that all the time with foreign policy.”

Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney appeared to confirm that the White House was conducting a review of the call between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, which was flagged in an intelligence community whistleblower report.

Mulvaney also said there is not an impeachment “war room” at the White House.

However, Mulvaney added, “Yes, we’re having lawyers look at it. Yes, we’re having our PR people looking at it. If we … weren’t doing that, we’d be committing malpractice. But I don’t think there’s anything extraordinary that we’re doing.”

Mulvaney also said the review was not part of an attempt to uncover the whistleblower. 

He later added that “no one here had any difficulty with the call. We do think the call is perfect.”

“No one raised any difficulty with me on the call at all,” he continued.

Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, asked about the White House's decision to move the Ukraine call transcript to a highly classified system, insisted the administration has not covered anything up.

"If we wanted to cover this up, would we have called the Department of Justice almost immediately and have them look at the transcript of the tape? Which we did, by the way," Mulvaney asked. "If we wanted to cover this up, would we have released it to the public?"

Remember: The White House transcript is a rough long of the call and not a verbatim transcript.

Mulvaney continued: "Everybody wants to believe there's a coverup. You don't give it to the public and say, 'Here it is,' if you're trying to cover something up."

Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said it is President Trump's decision whether he keeps Rudy Giuliani as his personal lawyer.

"In light of the depositions that we've heard, do you believe that Rudy Giuliani's role as an outside adviser to the President is problematic?" a reporter asked at a news briefing.

Some context: US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland today testified that he was directed by Trump to work with Giuliani on Ukraine and was left with a choice: abandon efforts to bolster a key strategic alliance or work to satisfy the demands of the President's personal lawyer.

Mulvaney said Giuliani's involvement is not illegal.

"You may not like the fact that Giuliani was involved. That's great, that's fine. It's not illegal, it's not impeachable, the President gets to use who he wants to use," he said.

Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, speaking to reporters today, said part of the reason why President Trump withheld money to Ukraine was "the corruption related to the DNC server."

"The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. And that is absolutely appropriate," he said.

Mulvaney said the Trump administration does "that all the time with foreign policy."

He said Trump also dislikes sending money overseas.

"President Trump is not a big fan of foreign aid. Never has been, still isn't. He doesn't like spending money overseas, especially when it's poorly spent. And that is exactly what drove this decision," Mulvaney said.

President Trump's supporters are holding an anti-impeachment rally today in front of the US Capitol.

Republican congressmen are expected to join the grassroots effort led by Trump supporters.

Here's who is expected to attend:

Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney will brief reporters today at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi addressed the court battle between the House and Trump to obtain records for their impeachment inquiry, suggesting that if the President has "nothing to hide" he should cooperate.

In reference to Trump's stonewalling, she added, "If you have nothing to hide, we're giving you opportunity to show that you have nothing to hide."

More context here: Last week, Trump lost his appeal to stop a House subpoena of his tax documents from his longtime accountant Mazars USA. In a 2-1 ruling, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower court ruling saying the firm must turn over eight years of accounting records.