No absolute immunity
Former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena, a federal court ruled Monday, finding that top presidential advisers cannot ignore congressional demands for information and raising the possibility that McGahn could be forced to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry.
, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington, found no basis for a White House claim that the former counsel is “absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony,” likely setting the stage for a historic separation-of-powers confrontation between the government’s executive and legislative branches.
The House Judiciary Committee went to court in August to enforce its subpoena for McGahn, whom lawmakers consider the “most important” witness in whether Trump obstructed justice in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.....
“[T]he Court holds only that [McGahn] (and other senior presidential advisors) do not have absolute immunity from compelled congressional process in the context of this particular subpoena dispute,” Jackson wrote, quoting a similar ruling by a Republican appointed judge in 2008 in a case involving former George W. Bush counsel Harriet Miers.. Like Miers, Jackson wrote, “Donald McGahn ‘must appear before the Committee to provide testimony, and invoke executive privilege where appropriate.
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