Trump administration wants order for McGahn testimony put on hold
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[November 27, 2019]
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Justice Department
lawyers asked a U.S. judge on Tuesday to put on hold a ruling requiring
former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify to lawmakers as part of
the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday rejected the Trump
administration's claim of broad immunity protecting current and former
senior White House officials from being compelled to testify before
Congress, saying no one is above the law.
The administration's court filing on Tuesday asked the judge to put her
Monday ruling on hold while the Trump administration appeals it to a
higher court. The White House has directed current and former officials
not to testify or provide documents sought in the House of
Representatives impeachment inquiry.
House Democratic leaders have focused their impeachment inquiry on
Trump's actions concerning Ukraine, but have discussed pursuing a
broader count of obstruction of Congress among any articles of
impeachment - formal charges - brought against him. McGahn's testimony
could bolster that part of their inquiry.
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McGahn, who left his post in October 2018, last May defied a House
Judiciary Committee subpoena to testify about Trump's efforts to impede
former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that detailed
Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The House in September
opened an impeachment inquiry focusing on the Republican president
asking Ukraine to investigate domestic political adversaries.
Committee lawyers said in a court filing last week that the need for
McGahn's testimony has became "even more pressing" because its
investigation of Mueller's findings fall within the scope of the
impeachment probe laid out in a House resolution approved in October.
"As part of the House's impeachment inquiry, the committee is continuing
to investigate instances of misconduct recounted in the Mueller Report,
including episodes in which McGahn was involved," the lawyers wrote.
"Given that the House's impeachment inquiry is proceeding rapidly, the
committee has a finite window of time to effectively obtain and consider
McGahn's testimony," they added.
McGahn told Mueller's team that Trump repeatedly directed him to have
the special counsel removed and then asked him to deny having been so
instructed when word of the action emerged in news reports. McGahn did
not follow Trump's instructions.
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![](../images/112719pics/news_g19.jpg)
White House counsel Don Mcgahn listens to U.S. Supreme Court nominee
Brett Kavanaugh testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee
confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September
27, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Bourg/
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Trump, writing on Twitter on Tuesday, said he would "love" to let
top administration officials testify in the impeachment inquiry, but
added, "It is a Democrat Scam that is going nowhere but, future
Presidents should in no way be compromised."
The Justice Department, representing McGahn in his former official
capacity, said in its court filing that the committee agreed to a
seven-day delay in enforcing the subpoena. If the judge does not
immediately impose that delay, the department said it would file an
emergency application on Wednesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit.
The department said the judge's ruling was only the second in U.S.
history requiring a senior presidential adviser to testify before
Congress and that the dispute raises "significant and difficult
separation-of-powers questions." Separation of powers refers to the
U.S. Constitution assigning different authority to the federal
government's executive, legislative and judicial branches.
Charles Cooper, a lawyer for Trump's former national security
adviser John Bolton, indicated that Monday's ruling would not pave
the way for Bolton or Bolton's former aide Charles Kupperman to
testify in the impeachment probe.
Bolton has joined a separate lawsuit filed by Kupperman seeking a
ruling on whether they must comply with a House subpoena. Cooper
represents Kupperman and Bolton.
Cooper said Kupperman's lawsuit will move forward, noting that the
McGahn subpoena did not concern national security or foreign
affairs.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe and
Jonathan Landay; Editing by Will Dunham)
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