House Democrats, moving quickly to escalate their impeachment inquiry into President Trump, subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, demanding that he promptly produce a tranche of documents and a slate of witnesses that could shed light on the president’s attempts to pressure Ukraine to help tarnish a leading political rival. The subpoena and demands for depositions were the first major investigative actions the House has taken since it launched impeachment proceedings this week in light of revelations that Mr. Trump pushed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate Joseph R. Biden Jr., a contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, possibly using United States aid asleverage. With Congress now in a two-week recess and lawmakers headed home to their districts, Democrats were working on two tracks, meticulously outlining a rapid-fire set of investigative steps while they honed their messaging for what promises to be a divisive and politically charged process. “Everything is real time,” said Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois and a member of the Intelligence Committee, which has assumed the investigative lead. Democrats presented their deposition requests as nonnegotiable, listing dates for early October appearances by officials who were either mentioned in a whistle-blower complaint released this week or are connected to American policy work in the region. After months of stonewalling congressional oversight requests sent by the House largely with impunity, the Trump administration now faces a crucial choice: cooperate and potentially hand over witnesses and documentary evidence that could help Democrats build a case against Mr. Trump, or refuse, and risk bolstering a possible impeachment article charging the president withobstructing Congress. The Intelligence Committee continued to negotiate to meet with the whistle-blower in a secure setting to try to identify other officials who witnessed the alleged events and who would be willing to cooperate with their work. Gallery: The best photos from the week gone by [The Atlantic] As the investigative committees charge forward in Washington, Democratic House leaders were preparing most of their caucus to build support for the inquiry back home. Representative David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island and the head of the party’s messaging arm, circulated talking points for his colleagues on Friday, aimed especially at helping moderates — many of whom were against an impeachment inquiry only a week ago, but have now voiced their support — explain this past week’s dizzying turn of events to their constituents. “But most importantly to share with their constituents the gravity of this event and the evidence that is already known to us about the president’s serious misconduct, really to focus theattention of the American people about this moment.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent all House Democrats a letter late Friday, reflecting on what she called “a sad time for our country.” She said that House leaders would arrange several calls during the recess to update lawmakers on the impeachment inquiry. The re-election campaign of Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan began selling T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Impeach the MF,” using a two-letter abbreviation for an expletive the first-term congresswoman used for thepresident when she uttered that phrase in a speech to activists in January. Mr. Trump, increasingly enraged by the airing of the allegations against him and Democrats’ move to consider impeaching him as a result, went on the attack with a series of tweets on Friday.
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