So, is this the day it all comes crashing down? Or is it the day Trump seizes absolute power, and troops fill the streets?

I don’t think the second is very likely, because I don’t think Trump has that much ability to make everyone jump when he says jump any more.

But I hope his opponents hurry up and do something about this defiance of a subpoena problem.

US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has been told by the State Department to not appear this morning before the House.

His attorney Robert Luskin said Tuesday morning he has no choice but to comply. “He is a sitting Ambassador and employee of State and is required to follow their direction,” Luskin said.

Luskin said Sondland will not appear.

They stayed up late talking about it.

Administration officials were in discussions late last night about blocking Ambassador Gordon Sondland from sitting down for his scheduled deposition today, per an official familiar.

The talks centered around how much the White House should be cooperating with requests from House Democrats without a formal impeachment inquiry vote, which the White House has asserted they need for this to be a legitimate probe, though Democrats have said otherwise.

Yes that’s definitely the issue – whether or not there’s been a “formal impeachment inquiry vote.” It’s not at all that Trump thinks he can get away with everything by just saying NO over and over.

A source familiar with discussions inside President Trump’s impeachment team says Ambassador Gordon Sondland not appearing is “part of an overall strategy connected to what is viewed as irregularities in the House impeachment inquiry.”

Blah blah blah. It’s part of “an overall strategy” of acting like a dictator as long as he can get away with it, which means literally until someone forcibly drags him out of there.

“The days of playing nice are done,” the source said.

The what? The days of what? When has he ever “played nice”?

The contrast with how the White House dealt with Special Counsel Robert Mueller is notable. John Dowd, Trump’s former lawyer, once noted Mueller was part of the executive — but Congress is outside and the White House and Trump do not feel an obligation to be as cooperative.

In other words he thinks he’s a dictator. Literally.

Schiff states the obvious: this is obstruction.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff said both Congress and the American people are “being deprived” of US Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony today.

Earlier today, Sondland’s lawyer said the Trump administration’s State Department ordered him not to appear before Congress.

Schiff said Sondland has “text messages or emails on a personal device” the committee would like to see.

“Although we have requested those from the ambassador, and the State Department is withholding those messages as well,” Schiff said. “Those messages are also deeply relevant to this investigation and the impeachment inquiry.”

“The failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions of Congress.”

So basically it’s an attempted coup. I hope they can put a stop to it without further delay.