House Aiming For McGahn Testimony As Part Of Impeachment Proceedings

White House Counsel Don McGahn watches Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27, 2018. (Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Lawyers for the House floated in a court filing Tuesday the possibility that former White House counsel Don McGahn could testify as part of the impeachment proceedings, once those proceedings move to the House Judiciary Committee.

The possibility of McGahn’s testimony came up in a request to U.S. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson that she expedite her decision in the litigation surrounding the House’s subpoena of McGahn, which predates the current inquiry focusing on Ukraine.

Jackson held a hearing last month in the lawsuit, where the Trump administration is arguing the subpoena is not enforceable because McGahn, as a former top advisor, is shielded by an “absolute” immunity.

At the end of the hearing Brown noted that her opinion in the case might be delayed by a trial she was set to preside over. She said, if requested, she’s consider issuing an expedited order before she handed down a full opinion.

Tuesday’s filing was the House taking her up on the offer.

“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 filing said, while noting that the
impeachment inquiry is proceeding rapidly.”

“The Judiciary Committee anticipates holding hearings after [the House Intelligence Committee’s] public hearings have concluded and would aim to obtain Mr. McGahn’s testimony at that time. Thus, there is an urgent need for final resolution of the matter now pending before this Court,” the filing said.

The filing echoed what House General Counsel Douglas Letter told an appeals court in a separate case Monday: that part of the House’s impeachment inquiry is focused on whether Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller.

Read the filing here.

Latest News
10
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Subpoena every last one of them, including Fat Nixon, and drag them into the hearings if they don’t comply. Enough of their bullshit…

  2. I know that the hearings are serious and Schiff is doing a splendid job, but part of me wants Boon, D-Day, Bluto, and Otter to cut the cake, accelerate to ramming speed, and plow through the GOP BS.

  3. If the expedited ruling is not in Trump’s favor he’ll just appeal it through whatever remaining courts there are and then to SCOTUS. Dems will be in the position of asking each successive court to expedite rulings. How in the hell does this hew to a timeline forcing McGahn to testify before the clock is forcing Dems to wrap it all up and present it to the Senate? Doubtless Trump can drag this out for months, no?

  4. Judge Brown would consider issuing an expedited order

    Why is it so hard to decide whether or not McGahn needs to respond to a Congressional subpoena? Of course, McGahn has to show up and he then has to decide whether to answer each question, plead the fifth amendment, or cite why he is not required to answer the question.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

4 more replies

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for epicurus Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for johnscotus Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for slimjim33 Avatar for bankerpup Avatar for maximus Avatar for zlj2011

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: