Rex Tillerson says Jared Kushner repeatedly circumvented State Department

The big picture: Tillerson claims that when he was brought on to the Trump administration, "no one really described what" Kushner was going to be doing, and that the "unique situation" of the president's son-in-law and daughter working in the White House was a challenge that "everyone" had to learn to deal with.

• On one occasion, Kushner and former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon attended a dinner with the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that saw the Gulf officials lay out their plans for a blockade of Qatar — which the White House supported. Tillerson said he was not aware of the dinner and had not heard about the plans for the blockade.
• In another occasion, Tillerson said he walked into a restaurant in Washington for a business meeting to find Kushner and the foreign secretary of Mexico dining at a back table. The foreign secretary was apparently under the impression that the State Department knew about the meeting and was "shocked" to find that Tillerson was left in the dark.

"I could see the color go out of the face of the foreign secretary of Mexico as I very — I smiled big, and I said: 'Welcome to Washington.' And I said: 'I don't want to interrupt what y'all are doing.' I said: 'Give me a call next time you're coming to town.' And I left it at that."

An administration official told Axios: "Jared and the White House were coordinating with the State Department. The problem is that Rex Tillerson couldn’t figure out how to coordinate with the State Department."

• White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement: "Jared consistently follows proper protocols.  The alleged dinner to supposedly discuss the blockade never happened, and no one in the White House was involved in the blockade. Moreover, Mr. Kushner’s work with Mexico had led to positive results on trade and other issues."

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• "After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the President has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up," the letter reads.

The state of play: Several White House officials have told Axios' Alayna Treene that the administration has no plans of complying with the committees' demands for interviews or documents without a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry.

The big picture: The Trump administration's initial refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint on the president's interactions with Ukraine is what led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to finally support a formal impeachment inquiry.

Go deeper: Trump letter dares Pelosi to hold vote on impeachment inquiry

• Johnson asked the Justice Department earlier this week to look into links between Ukraine and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. His letter questioned the narrative that Biden's actions in Ukraine had nothing to do with his son's connection.
• However, it was also discovered that he signed onto a 2016 letter that mirrored Biden's work to reform Ukraine's prosecutor general and judiciary.
• There is no evidence that Biden's reform work in Ukraine was to protect his son's business dealings, as the president and some of his allies allege, or that he committed any form of corruption.

The state of play: Sondland, a Trump political appointee who donated $1 million to the president's inaugural committee, denied that there was a quid pro quo between the Trump administration and Ukraine's government in a series of text messages that former Ukraine special envoy Kurt Volker provided to a group of House committees investigating the Trump-Ukraine matter.

• "I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, texted Sondland.
• Sondland texted back: "Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind."
• The New York Times reported that Sondland's response came only after he spoke to the president.

Go deeper: House committees release texts from former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker