The story sparked a series of angry tweets from Trump, saying he encouraged McGahn to cooperate with Mueller. But Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, appeared to know little about what McGahn said in his approximately 30 hours of interviews.
McGahn drew criticism early on in the Trump administration for poorly crafted executive orders, which in some cases were struck down by the courts. But the White House lawyer has left a lasting mark on the federal judiciary, spearheading the president's successful push to pack the bench with conservative judges.
Trump backed down after McGahn threatened to quit rather than order the Justice Department to dismiss Mueller. The move was first reported by the New York Times. McGahn's departure had been anticipated since Flood joined the president's legal team.
McConnell lamented McGahn's resignation in a statement on Wednesday, calling it "sad news for our country.". McGahn's "significance to the judiciary, the White House and the nation cannot be overstated ," McConnell said.
After Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, McGahn, along with the conservative Federalist Society, drew up a list of conservative judges from which Trump promised, if elected, to choose Scalia's successor.
According to the report, McGahn spoke with Mueller's team about some of the key events of concern to the Russia inquiry, including Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, his push for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take over the investigation from Mueller and his attempts to fire the special counsel.
The news about McGahn's resignation disappointed at least one important stakeholder outside the White House: Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I hope it's not true McGahn is leaving WhiteHouse Counsel. U can't let that happen," Grassley responded on Twitter.
The agreement is a major concession from the executive branch after the Trump administration sought to broadly block former and current officials from testifying to Congress, and McGahn's recalcitrance ended up in court as the most potentially consequential case over testimony.
The committee members who interview McGahn can ask him about the incidents documented in the Mueller report of Trump's attempts to fire special counsel Robert Mueller and block the Russia investigation, and about the Mueller investigation's accuracy. The Justice Department can assert executive privilege or McGahn can decline to answer on other ...
Washington (CNN) Former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn will testify before the House Judiciary Committee behind closed doors about then-President Donald Trump's attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation, the House and the Justice Department announced in a court filing Wednesday night.
The Mueller investigation relied on McGahn as one of its most significant witnesses against Trump. Mueller wrote in 2019 he was documenting the instances of obstruction so that Congress or future investigations could pick up the ball.
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 9: Don McGahn, lawyer for Donald Trump and his campaign, leaves the Four Seasons Hotel after a meeting with Trump and Republican donors, June 9, 2016 in New York City.
White House counsel Don McGahn’s attorney did not give President Donald Trump’s lawyers a full accounting of McGahn’s interviews with the special counsel’s team, a person familiar with the matter tells CNN.
Once McGahn's interview with the Judiciary Committee is complete, the Justice Department and House Democrats agreed to ask the D.C. Circuit to dismiss their case and request the court to toss out the earlier opinion from the three-judge panel in favor of McGahn.
The Trump White House blocked McGahn from complying with Democrats' subpoena, arguing he was "absolutely immune" from testifying. The Judiciary Committee went to court in August 2019 to enforce the subpoena, but a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit last year ordered the case to be tossed out on technical grounds and said it didn't have ...
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler , a Democrat from New York, said he is pleased a deal with the Justice Department could be reached that satisfies the subpoenas and protects the committee's duty to conduct oversight.
Washington — Former White House counsel Don McGahn is expected to answer questions from the House Judiciary Committee behind closed doors "as soon as possible" after Democrats on the panel and the Justice Department reached an agreement this week in a long-running dispute over enforcement of a subpoena for his testimony.
Drew Angerer / Getty. The agreement, filed with the D.C. Circuit, notes that McGahn's communications with other executive branch officials not disclosed in the public portions of Mueller's report are outside the scope of his interview with the Judiciary Committee.