The Clash: After blocking the US ambassador to the European Union from testifying before Congressional investigators, the Trump administration announced that it will refuse to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry, setting up a constitutional battle with Congress. 

  If the White House stays true to its word, obstruction may end up being one of the impeachment complaints brought against the President. But even more importantly, this is brewing up as a battle in which the President and the White House are refusing to acknowledge the co-equal status and rights of oversight granted Congress by the Constitution.

   While this was brewing, The NY Times reported that a White House official who listened to President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s president described it as “crazy,” “frightening” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security,” according to a memo written by the White House whistle-blower at the center of the Ukraine scandal.

   In its refusal to cooperate with Congress, the White House is accusing House Democrats of trying to overturn the results of the 2016 election. An eight-page letter signed by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone says, “In order to fulfill his duties to the American people, the Constitution, the Executive Branch, and all future occupants of the Office of the presidency, President Trump and his administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances.”

  House Democrats are trying to learn whether President Trump’s phone conversation with the president of Ukraine in which Trump demanded an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden provides the basis for impeachment.

  Yesterday began when the administration abruptly ordered Ambassador Gordon Sondland not to testify about what he knows of Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, and whether there was any connection to the delay in delivering military aid. Trump tweeted, “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.”

  Cipollone’s blistering letter accuses the House leaders of conducting interviews in secret and denying the President the right to cross-examine witnesses. He points out that the House has not called a formal vote to approve the impeachment inquiry.

  The Cipollone letter says, “The effort to impeach President Trump — without regard to any evidence of his actions in office — is a naked political strategy that began the day he was inaugurated, and perhaps even before.”

Visibly Shaken: The new information about President Trump’s call with the Ukraine president comes from a two-page memo written by the White House whistleblower. The source of the information was described as “visibly shaken” by what was said during the call. The whistleblower’s memo says, “The official stated that there was already a conversation underway with White House lawyers about how to handle the discussion because, in the official’s view, the president had clearly committed a criminal act by urging a foreign power to investigate a U.S. person for the purposes of advancing his own re-election bid in 2020.”

By the Numbers: A majority of Americans say they endorse the decision by House Democrats to begin an impeachment inquiry of President Trump, and nearly half of all adults also say the House should take the additional step of recommending that the president be removed from office, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll released Tuesday.

The Supremes: Gay and transsexual rights were on trial yesterday before the Supreme Court. The court heard arguments about whether gay and transsexual employees may be fired for their sexuality.

  The issue is whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act covers gay and transsexual people, even though they are not specifically included in the act’s language.

 President Trump’s appointee Neil Gorsuch appeared to be on the fence. “It’s close … very close,” Gorsuch said. But, then he asked whether a justice should “take into consideration the massive social upheaval that would” follow from such a decision. He asked whether it would be better to let Congress do it.

Blackout: Citing extreme wildfire danger, Pacific Gas & Electric is cutting power to about 800,000 customers in northern California. High winds are expected today and tomorrow. PG&E’s lines were blamed for starting the fire that wiped out Paradise, California and killed 86 people last November.

The Bulletin Board: Turkey says it will begin its military incursion into Syria, “shortly.” They are likely to collide with US-backed Kurds. — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said he’s dialing back his campaign following his heart attack. “I must confess I was dumb,” he said outside his home in Burlington. — Sexually transmitted disease is on the rise. More than 2.4 million syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia infections were reported in the United States in 2018, an increase of more than 100,000 cases from the previous year, the CDC reports. 

  We hope you’ve had breakfast already.