KICKING AND SCREAMING

Justice Department Appeals Ruling That Would Force Don McGahn to Testify

A judge ruled Monday that the White House’s former top lawyer must appear before Congress to testify.

The Department of Justice has submitted paperwork to appeal Monday’s ruling that former top White House lawyer Don McGahn must appear before Congress to testify as part of its impeachment inquiry. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s ruling was the first by a federal judge in the Trump era ordering an ex-White House official to comply with a congressional subpoena. Politico reporter Kyle Cheney tweeted Tuesday confirming the DoJ had gone through with its expected appeal filing. Jackson wrote in a decision released Monday: “However busy or essential a presidential aide might be, and whatever their proximity to sensitive domestic and national-security projects, the President does not have the power to excuse him or her from taking an action that the law requires.” The appeal opens up the possibility the dispute over whether current and former White House officials can be forced to testify will head to the Supreme Court.