House Subpoenas Giuliani, Trump’s Lawyer, for Ukraine Records

Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman are executives of an energy company that donated $325,000 to a pro-Trump “super PAC” last year, prompting a Federal Election Commission complaint by a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog accusing the men and the company of violating campaign finance laws.

In an interview, Mr. Giuliani did not say whether he planned to comply with the subpoena. He denounced Democrats, accusing them of issuing an overly broad request. “We’re getting really close to, if we haven’t met, the standard of the McCarthy hearings where nobody seems to care about things like attorney-client privilege,” he said.

Mr. Giuliani has discussed having a longtime associate, Jon A. Sale, an assistant special prosecutor during Watergate, assist him as he weighs how to respond to the subpoena. But in the interview, he said that Mr. Sale was simply a friend, and that he had not chosen a lawyer yet.

Mr. Guiliani now faces a choice: Either he can hand over material under subpoena that could help build the case against the president, or refuse and help build a possible impeachment article based on obstruction of Congress. The chairmen gave Mr. Giuliani about two weeks, until Oct. 15, to comply.

“Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena, including at the direction or behest of the president or the White House, shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you and the president,” they wrote.

Democratic investigators are moving quickly, buoyed by new national polls that suggest a majority of the public supports their work, even if few Republicans in Congress do.

In the last few days alone, they have reached a deal to privately meet with the whistle-blower, though no date has been set. They have scheduled depositions beginning this week with State Department officials with knowledge of the accusations. And on Friday they plan to hold a closed hearing with the intelligence community inspector general, who investigated the whistle-blower’s complaint.