Trump tells 2 former aides not to testify at House hearing on possible obstruction of justice


President Trump has directed two of his former aides to ignore subpoenas and skip a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Democrats on the committee are seeking information on an incident described in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, when Trump allegedly attempted to coerce then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions into redirecting the Russia investigation away from Trump's presidential campaign, Reuters reports.
The committee sent subpoenas to former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn and former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter, but in a letter sent to House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said they will not appear, as the Department of Justice has decided they "are absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony with respect to matters related to their service as senior advisers to the president."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Nadler called Trump's order a "shocking and dangerous assertion of executive privilege and absolute immunity." Another former Trump aide, Corey Lewandowski, also received a subpoena to appear Tuesday, and Cipollone said he can testify, just not about any conversations he had with Trump after his election or with any of Trump's senior advisers.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The mounting tensions between Thailand and Cambodia
The Explainer Long-running border disputes are at a decade high, as protesters in Thailand demand the prime minister's resignation
-
The unravelling of 'trolls' paradise' Tattle Life
In the Spotlight Unmasking of founder sends shockwaves through toxic gossip forum
-
Codeword: June 30, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from