Attorney General William Barr said it is President Trump’s call on whether former White House counsel Don McGahn can testify before Congress.
He was asked about it Wednesday by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“That’s a call for the president to make,” Barr replied.
Durbin countered: “He’s a private citizen at this point.”
Barr shot back: “I assume he would be testifying about privileged matters.”
Durbin, who began his line of questioning by venting his frustration with his GOP colleagues’ “lock her up” obsession, said, “I would hope we could get to the bottom of this with actual testimony of witnesses after we take another close look at Hillary Clinton’s emails.”
McGahn cooperated with the special counsel’s team, sitting down for several interviews. He is now sought after by Democratic investigators on Capitol Hill for testimony.
McGahn served as White House counsel from 2017 until late last year. According to Mueller’s report, released earlier this month with redactions, he was one of the officials who resisted Trump’s orders to have Mueller fired. He was also told to lie about being ordered to fire Mueller.
The redacted special counsel report examined nearly a dozen “episodes” for possible obstruction of justice. Although Mueller declined to conclude there was obstruction, the special counsel also noted that he could not say “no criminal conduct occurred.”
