The planned appeal means impeachment investigators won’t likely hear from McGahn anytime soon.
The Justice Department asked a federal judge Tuesday to put a temporary pause on her ruling that orders former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe, saying it needs the delay to pursue an appeal.
While expected, the move from DOJ means that the primary congressional panel responsible for drafting articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump likely won’t hear anytime soon from McGahn, one of the star witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report.
Democrats had hailed U.S. District Court Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson’s Monday decision, which rebuked a Trump administration position that the president’s advisers enjoyed “absolute immunity” from being forced to answer questions under oath about their work.
Jackson’s 120-page opinion found that “no one is above the law” and took issue with Trump’s efforts to stonewall congressional oversight by hindering the collection of testimony from key witnesses.
“Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings,” Jackson wrote.
But DOJ on Tuesday responded by requesting a new hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, as well as asking Jackson for a temporary stay on her ruling for McGahn to testify.
If a pause is granted, McGahn’s lawyer said he’ll wait to decide on whether to appear before the House panel until after the case has been decided.
While the D.C. Circuit is hardly a friendly forum for Trump — it currently includes seven active judges appointed by Democratic presidents compared with four from Republicans — a temporary stay is likely.
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The Justice Department has moved to halt a judge’s ruling that McGahn must testify https://t.co/wEBwCQgm65
— POLITICO (@politico) November 26, 2019
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