Former White House counsel Don McGahn cannot be compelled to testify before Congress, Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel wrote Monday, setting up a standoff with the House Judiciary Committee.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has issued a subpoena for McGahn to appear Tuesday before the panel to testify about the Mueller report and whether President Trump attempted to obstruct the two-year-long Russia investigation.
McGahn was not expected to attend, and the letter Monday sends a final message to Nadler that McGahn is not coming.
McGahn, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday, “has been directed” not to appear.
Nadler has promised to hold a vote to cite McGahn with contempt if he does not show up. But Engel told Nadler such a move would not be justified and could harm the executive branch.
Engel wrote to Nadler that Congress can’t compel senior advisers to the president to testify about officials duties and that any move to cite McGahn with contempt would be unprecedented and would threaten the president’s “ability to fulfill his constitutional duties” by interfering with his relationship with advisers.
These same principles, Engel wrote, apply to former advisers, such as McGahn, who no longer work in the White House.
Sanders said McGahn has been instructed not to testify “in order to ensure that future Presidents can effectively execute the responsibilities of the Office of the Presidency.”
Nadler’s panel earlier this month voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for failing to turn over the unredacted Mueller report.
Democratic leaders have yet to schedule a House vote on the Barr contempt citation.
