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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Instructs McGahn to Defy Subpoena and Skip House Testimony
WASHINGTON President Trump on Monday directed his former White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, to defy a congressional subpoena and skip a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, denying House Democrats testimony from one of the most important eyewitnesses to Mr. Trumps attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation.
The House Judiciary Committee had subpoenaed Mr. McGahn to appear. The White House, though, presented Mr. McGahn and the committee with a 15-page legal opinion from the Justice Department stating that Congress may not constitutionally compel the presidents senior advisers to testify about their official duties.
Because of this constitutional immunity, and in order to protect the prerogatives of the office of the presidency, the president has directed Mr. McGahn not to appear at the Committees scheduled hearing on Tuesday, Pat A. Cipollone, the current White House counsel, wrote in a letter to the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. McGahn now technically faces a choice over whether to show up to the hearing and parry questions from Democrats or skip the session altogether. But Mr. McGahn has maintained throughout that he will follow the White Houses guidance, according to a person close to him.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-expected-to-instruct-mcgahn-to-defy-subpoena-and-skip-house-testimony/ar-AABDNPE
More obstruction by the Trumpster.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)TomSlick
(11,086 posts)If Trump is evoking executive privilege, that does not protect a subpoenaed witnesses from appearing.
McGahn's option is to appear and refuse to answer question based on the executive privilege. Failing to appear would be contemptuous.
McGahn wants the courts to determine if the evocation of executive privilege is valid and not whether he is personally in contempt.