A recent court ruling has the potential to break the resistance of key witnesses in the investigation into US President Donald Trump. The former White House Legal Department Director, Don McGahn, must respond to a referral from a House Committee and testify in Parliament. It's a tough blow for the White House.
McGahn can not rely on the immunity of high-level government officials or national security reasons, federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said Monday.
Nor is it in the power of the President to release one of his co-workers from responding to such a summons from the Congress. Jackson. "Put simply, 250 years of American history teach us: presidents are not kings."
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No one is above the law, the judge explained. However, which information the employee may actually disclose to the Congress is partly regulated by other regulations. The Ministry of Justice wanted to appeal according to US media reports appeal against the decision of the judge.
US Democrat Adam Schiff, one of the leading figures in the impeachment investigation, welcomed the court's ruling. He hopes that the ruling could also make other possible witnesses think: "They must decide whether their duty is to the nation - or to a president who sees himself above the law."
Andrew Harrer / REUTERS
Adam Schiff: Judgment could influence more witnesses
The Judiciary Committee had summoned McGahn as part of the investigation into possible interference in Russia's US election. McGahn had answered special investigator Robert Mueller's questions, but the government wanted to stop him from giving a statement in parliament. Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler welcomed the decision and said McGahn was a "key witness" in clarifying whether Trump had hampered Mueller's investigation.
What happens to initiates like Bolton and Mulvaney?
The legal dispute is now even more important, with several current and former White House officials refusing to testify in Parliament as part of the investigation into possible impeachment of President Donald Trump.
These include, for example, former Deputy National Security Advisor Charles Kupperman. He went to court in a separate case to ask if he had to testify before the House or if he had to comply with Trump's order to block the investigation. His boss John Bolton also refuses to answer the congress. The same applies to the acting chief of staff in the White House, Mick Mulvaney.
In all cases, the White House has sought the same argument: the persons summoned are of such importance to the government that, by virtue of their position, they enjoy immunity from being summoned by Congress. The current verdict fundamentally thwarts this tactic.
