Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by former national security official Charles Kupperman to challenge a House subpoena calling on him to testify in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Washington, D.C., District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that the lawsuit was moot as the House withdrew its subpoena for Kupperman's testimony in November after the White Houser ordered him not to appear for the congressional hearing.
"Kupperman no longer faces the 'irreconcilable commands' of two coordinate branches of government and he accordingly lacks any personal stake in the outcome of this dispute. Thus, it would appear that this case is moot and should be dismissed," Leon wrote in a 14-page ruling.
Despite the House's decision to drop the subpoena, Kupperman had called for a ruling, saying the House could at any time reissue the subpoena or hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to testify in the probe.
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Leon asserted that the House "clearly has no intention of pursuing Kupperman" but noted circumstances may change moving forward.
"Should the winds of political fortune shift and the House were to reissue a subpoena to Dr. Kupperman, he will face the same conflicting directives that precipitated this suit. If so, he will undoubtedly be right back before this Court seeking a solution to a Constitutional dilemma that has long-standing political consequences: balancing Congress's well-established power to investigate with a President's need to have a small group of national security advisers who have some form of immunity from compelled Congressional testimony," he wrote.
Kupperman a deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton, was called to testify in the inquiry as House investigators said he was party to the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the center of his impeachment.
