Even the most senior White House aides must testify, if ordered to by subpoena.
A federal court has ordered former White House Counsel Don McGahn to comply with a Congressional subpoena. The ruling explicitly states that “Presidents are not kings” and that “it is a core tenet of this Nation’s founding that the powers of a monarch must be split between the branches of the government to prevent tyranny.”
The ruling also finds that the President does not have any power to order anyone to disobey a subpoena. Such orders may, in fact, constitute criminal acts.
Read the full 120-page federal court ruling by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Joseph Robertson is Executive Director of Climate Civics International (climatecivics.org). He represents CCI in the UNFCCC negotiations and other United Nations processes, and in the Earth Diplomacy Leadership Initiative. He is Chief Strategist for Resilience Intel and the Climate Value Exchange, and a member of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition Advisory Group. Joseph is a principal in the Good Food Finance Network, co-leading efforts to establish a new co-investment platform for food systems transformation and the Integrated Data Systems Initiative. He previously served as Interim Director for the Food System Economics Commission, during its start-up phase, and as Senior Advisor, Sustainable Finance, for the EAT Foundation. He is the founder of Geoversiv (earthintel.org) and The Navigator (navigatornews.net).
democracy witness 
Respond to Court rules ‘Presidents are not kings’