Don McGahn
The White House is expected to block former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying about obstruction of justice events related to the Mueller investigation.
The White House may claim McGahn is immune from testifying because he is a former advisor to the President — The Justice Department will later release a legal opinion on McGahn’s subpoena and immunity, according to Reuters.
Mr. McGahn was requested to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on May 21st and previously defied a House Judiciary subpoena that requested a trove of documents.
Last month House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) subpoenaed former White House counsel Don McGahn to publicly testify May 21.
Nadler said that Don McGahn is a “critical witness to many of the alleged instances of obstruction of justice and other misconduct described in the Special Counsel’s report.”
According to Mueller’s report, President Trump asked Don McGahn to supposedly lie about reports that he ordered him to fire Mueller. Mueller was never even fired and Trump insists he never said anything like that to McGahn, but Nadler and the Dems are pursuing him anyway.
“The Special Counsel’s report, even in redacted form, outlines substantial evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction and other abuses,” Nadler previously said. “It now falls to Congress to determine for itself the full scope of the misconduct and to decide what steps to take in the exercise of our duties of oversight, legislation and constitutional accountability.”
“His [McGahn’s] testimony will help shed further light on the President’s attacks on the rule of law, and his attempts to cover up those actions by lying to the American people and requesting others do the same,” Nadler said last month.
Nadler threatened Trump officials who defy subpoenas with hefty fines or contempt charges.
“We’ve subpoenaed McGahn. We’re expecting him to show up on the 21st, and if he doesn’t he will be subject to contempt, unless he has a court order telling him he can’t, which I don’t think he would get,” Nadler said earlier this month.
Update: White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement on Don McGahn’s immunity:
“[B]ased on longstanding, bipartisan, and Constitutional precedent, the former Counsel to the President cannot be forced to give such testimony, and Mr. McGahn has been directed to act accordingly,” Sanders said in a statement on Monday.
