Trump wins bid to block McGahn testimony

(SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ON AUGUST 29, 2018, SAYING: "Don McGahn is a really good guy, been with me for a long time..." In a 2-1 decision on Friday, a U.S. appeals court sided with President Donald Trump and dismissed a Democratic-led congressional panel’s lawsuit seeking to enforce a subpoena for testimony from former White House Counsel Donald McGahn.

The decision overturns a judge’s November ruling that said the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s April subpoena to McGahn was lawful.

The committee sought testimony from McGahn, who left his post in October 2018, about Trump’s efforts to impede former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that documented Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

McGahn defied the subpoena in May.

The committee then sued to enforce the subpoena in August, a month before the House launched its impeachment inquiry against Trump for his request that Ukraine investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden and his son.

The decision from the three-judge panel is a major legal victory for Trump, who’s administration argued that the court had no place in settling the high-stakes dispute between the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government.

The ruling also serves as vindication for Trump's sweeping directive for current and former officials to defy congressional requests for testimony and documents on impeachment and a broad range of other subjects.