Donald Trump’s lawyer has been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee for documents to form part of its impeachment inquiry into the president.
The Democrat-run intelligence panel said the US leader’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had said on national television that he asked the government of Ukraine to "target" former Vice President Joe Biden.
Mr Giuliani was asked to hand over documents related to Mr Trump's effort to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymry Zelenskiy to investigate Mr Biden.
A letter was also sent to Semyon "Sam" Kislin, a Ukrainian immigrant who has had business ties to Mr Trump and served on Giuliani's city economic development corporation when Giuliani was mayor of New York.
The panel issued the subpoena for Mr Giuliani on Monday in consultation with the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees.
A transcript of a call Mr Trump made to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky shows he urged him to investigate discredited corruption allegations against former vice-president and 2020 presidential candidate Mr Biden and his son.
The call is at the centre of an effort by Democrats that could see Mr Trump removed from office
Republican senator Adam Kinzinger was among those to hit out at the US leader, describing suggestion of a civil war as “beyond repugnant”.
The lawyers for a whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry have said Mr Trump's words are endangering their client.
Since the transcript of his call with the president of Ukraine was revealed, Mr Trump has called for the anonymous source of information to be unmasked.
