DOJ says Congress can't compel McGahn to testify

The Justice Department has issued a legal opinion claiming Congress cannot allow former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify, in a win for the White House. The White House has informed the House Judiciary Committee that McGahn will not be showing up Tuesday, when he had been subpoenaed and scheduled to testify. McGahn never publicly committed to testifying. 

“The immunity of the President’s immediate advisers from compelled congressional testimony on matters related to their official responsibilities has long been recognized and arises from the fundamental workings of the separation of powers,” the Office of Legal Counsel opinion reads. “Those principles apply to the former White House Counsel. Accordingly, Mr. McGahn is not legally required to appear and testify about matters related to his official duties as counsel to the president.”

McGahn is a key figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, as he told Mueller’s team the president on multiple occasions directed him to fire Mueller, an order McGahn ignored. 

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement saying that the move to keep McGahn from testifying “has been taken to ensure that future Presidents can effectively execute the responsibilities of the Office of the Presidency.”

Mr. Trump had already suggested he didn’t think McGahn should testify. 

“I’ve had him testifying already for 30 hours and it’s really — so I don’t think I can let him and then tell everybody else you can’t,” Trump said Thursday. “Especially him, because he was a counsel, so they’ve testified for many hours, all of them, many, many, many people. I can’t say, ‘Well, one can and the others can’t.’ I would say it’s done.”

CBS News White House correspondent Paula Reid contributed to this report.

This is a developing story and will be updated.