House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler has just issued a subpoena to President Donald Trump’s former White House Counsel, Don McGahn, to testify before Congress. McGahn, according to the Mueller report, was instrumental in blocking the President from committing illegal acts, and likely saved him from certain obstruction charges.
The subpoena is to expand Chairman Nadler’s investigation into Trump’s possible obstruction of justice, and is “a move to bring in a key player with direct knowledge about President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine the Russia probe,” CNN reports.
On Friday, less than 24 hours after Attorney General William Barr released his version of the Mueller report, The Associated Press reported that “it was McGahn who Trump turned to on June 17, 2017, when he wanted to oust Mueller.”
“According to the special counsel report, McGahn responded to the president’s request by calling his personal lawyer and his chief of staff, driving to the White House, packing up his belongings and preparing to submit his letter of resignation. He told then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus that the president had asked him to ‘do crazy s—-.'”
The AP adds that “Mueller said McGahn feared Trump was setting in motion a series of events ‘akin to the Saturday Night Massacre,’ the Nixonian effort to rein in the Watergate investigation.”
Direct from Chairman Nadler’s official government website, here what the first of the 12-page subpoena looks like. Notice it says McGahn is “commanded” to attend.
You can read the entire document on the House Judiciary Committee’s website.
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license