Judge orders Don McGahn to testify before Congress
A federal judge ruled on Monday that former White House Counsel Don McGahn must testify before congressional impeachment investigators.
The Trump administration has blocked top presidential advisers from responding to subpoenas, arguing that they have absolute immunity, but U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson called this claim "baseless, and as such, cannot be sustained." McGahn spoke to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller for 30 hours while he was investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and House Democrats have been wanting to ask him about possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.
The House Judiciary Committee has been trying to enforce its subpoena for McGahn since August, before the panel launched its impeachment inquiry against Trump. Democrats are now deciding whether articles of impeachment should include obstruction of justice allegations that were included in Mueller's report, The Washington Post reports, and McGahn could be an important witness.
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A Department of Justice spokesperson said the administration plans on appealing the ruling. McGahn's attorney, William Burck, said his client will comply with the order, unless there is a court-ordered stay.
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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.
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