should he follow a congressional subpoena ordering his testimony or follow the white house directive to stand down? here was the president today as he compared his case to the one involving jesse smollett, the actor accused of faking being the target of a hate crime. >> then you have the case of this wise guy, jesse smollett, and he said maga country did it, maga country. okay? that's a hate crime. that's a hate crime. and it's a scam. it's a real big scam. just like the impeachment of your president is a scam. >> the democrats running this impeachment inquiry say that the lawsuit is no excuse for kupperman's no-show today and that they are threatening him with contempt and adam schiff added this. >> i think we can infer from the white house opposition to dr. kupperman's testimony that