Former White House counsel Don McGahn has agreed to testify in a private congressional hearing about the Russia investigation, ending a long court battle sparked by former President Donald Trump’s effort to stonewall lawmakers.
McGahn, a key figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, will answer questions from the House Judiciary Committee behind closed doors, but a transcript will be released about a week later, according to federal court papers filed Wednesday.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., hailed the breakthrough agreement with the Justice Department as a win for transparency and the constitutional separation of powers.
“When the former president vowed to fight ‘all of the subpoenas’ aimed at his administration, he began a dangerous campaign of unprecedented obstruction,” Nadler said in a statement. “We begin to bring that era of obstruction to an end today.”
Under the agreement, McGahn will only be questioned about information attributed to him in publicly available portions of the Mueller report.
McGahn was first hit with a subpoena in April 2019 as lawmakers probed whether Trump obstructed justice in Mueller’s investigation into Russian efforts to boost his 2016 campaign.
Trump ordered McGahn to refuse to testify, sparking a congressional lawsuit.
A district court judge first sided with the House committee, ruling that “presidents are not kings.” But the case got bogged down on appeal and remained unresolved when Trump left office.
