Electric vehicle startup Rivian lands $350 million in new funding

• This year, Ford invested $500 million in Rivian, and the companies are working together to develop a Ford EV of some sort.
• Amazon led a $700 million investment round in Rivian announced in February.

The big picture: Rivian is building a battery-powered pickup and SUV, with plans to launch them in the U.S. late next year. But a big draw for investors, including Ford, is also the "skateboard" platform underpinning them, which is engineered to accommodate a range of vehicle designs.

What's next: Beyond the investment, Cox and Rivian will "explore partnership opportunities in service operations, logistics, and digital retailing," according to the announcement. Someone from Cox will also join Rivian's board.

• Rivian appears to be interested in how Cox's various services can help the company market its vehicles and tech.
• "Cox Automotive’s global footprint, service and logistics capabilities, and retail technology platform make them a great partner for us," Rivian founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe said in a statement.

Go deeper: This EV startup for adventurers has a two-part strategy for success

• "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