Democrats Finally Get Chance to Question McGahn

Former White House counsel will appear before House Judiciary Committee Friday
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 4, 2021 7:00 AM CDT
Democrats Finally Get Chance to Question McGahn
In this Sept. 27, 2018 photo, then-White House counsel Don McGahn listens as Supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.   (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The House Judiciary Committee is poised to question former White House counsel Don McGahn behind closed doors on Friday, two years after House Democrats originally sought his testimony as part of investigations into former President Trump. The long-awaited interview is the result of an agreement reached last month in federal court, the AP reports. House Democrats—then investigating whether Trump tried to obstruct the Justice Department’s probes into his presidential campaign’s ties to Russia—originally sued after McGahn defied an April 2019 subpoena on Trump’s orders. That month, the Justice Department released a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the matter.

In the report, Mueller pointedly did not exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice but also did not recommend prosecuting him, citing Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president. Mueller’s report quoted extensively from interviews with McGahn, who described the Republican president’s efforts to stifle the investigation. While the Judiciary panel eventually won its fight for McGahn's testimony, the court agreement almost guarantees its members won’t learn anything new. The two sides agreed that McGahn will be questioned only about information attributed to him in publicly available portions of Mueller’s report. It is unclear what House Democrats will do with the testimony, which they sought before twice impeaching Trump.

(More Don McGahn stories.)

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