President Donald Trump recently promoted a White House aide for a key position in his administration’s 5G efforts. However, many were quick to point out that the same aide was once subpoenaed during the House impeachment but refused to testify.
The White House announced on Monday that President Donald Trump promoted Robert Blair for the post of special representative for international communications policy, USA Today reported. The report said that Blair will represent the Trump administration’s “efforts to promote a secure and reliable global communications system.”
Prior to his new role, Blair acted as the senior adviser to the acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and also acted as an assistant to the President. The White House announcement also added that Blair will still continue to act in those roles on top of his new post.
“In this capacity, Mr. Blair will lead the strategic prioritization of United States efforts to promote a secure and reliable global communications system,” the White House statement reads as reported by HuffPost. “He will coordinate interagency efforts and serve as a liaison to industry, non-governmental, and international stakeholders to promote the development, deployment, and operation of the next-generation telecommunications infrastructure that will provide the security, data privacy, and stability required for a fully interconnected world.”
However, the HuffPost also noted Blair’s refusal “to cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment investigation into Trump.” In fact, he once defied a congressional subpoena to appear during its investigation on November 3.
According to the House report related to the Ukraine inquiry, Blair sent on around July 12 an email to Office of Management and Budget official Mr. Michael Duffrey which explained that the “president is directing a hold on military support for Ukraine,” Straits Times reported. In addition, Blair is reportedly one of the few officials who listened to Trump’s phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky on July 25.
HuffPost reached out to the White House to “comment on whether Blair’s promotion was directly linked to his aiding in obstructing Congress during the impeachment investigation.” However, no official reply or statement has been made.