White House says it will appeal ruling on McGahn testimony

Top White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday that a judge’s ruling to force former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment inquiry “may not be sustainable.”

Mrs. Conway told reporters at the White House that “nobody was surprised” by the ruling Monday from U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and that the Justice Department will appeal.

“This is one judge, an Obama-appointed judge,” she said, adding that the ruling “may not be sustainable.”

The judge decided that Mr. McGahn must testify in the House impeachment investigation, undercutting an order from President Trump blocking his cooperation with Congress.

The ruling said that ignoring a congressional subpoena is “an affront to the mechanism for curbing abuses that the framers carefully crafted for our protection.”

The president had invoked “absolute immunity” to shield witnesses from testifying in the Democrats’ impeachment probe.

The ruling also could pave the way for other impeachment witnesses who have sought to duck congressional investigators. One potential key witness, former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton, said he would not testify unless a court ordered him to do so.