Shocked, shocked, shocked

The constitutional crisis rolls on, with Congressional Democrats being irritatingly feeble.

Donald Trump has blocked the former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference.

Donald Trump can’t “block him” from testifying. It’s just a power play and McGahn should ignore it, but he’s not, he’s said he’ll obey this arbitrary demand from someone he no longer works for.

In a legal opinion released on Monday, the justice department said lawmakers on Capitol Hill cannot compel McGahn, who was subpoenaed by the House judiciary committee, to answer their questions under oath.

Because “the justice department” is wholly in the bag for Trump. It’s not a justice department, it’s just a branch of the Trump operation.

The White House’s intervention was condemned by Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the judiciary committee. “The Mueller Report documents a shocking pattern of obstruction of justice,” he said in a statement. “The President acted again and again – perhaps criminally – to protect himself from federal law enforcement.

“Don McGahn personally witnessed the most egregious of these acts. President Trump knows this. He clearly does not want the American people to hear firsthand about his alleged misconduct, and so he has attempted to block Mr McGahn from speaking in public tomorrow.”

The move is the latest example of the Trump administration’s “disdain for the law”, added Nadler, who said the committee will meet as planned on Tuesday morning and still expects McGahn to appear.

Yes, groovy, but what are they going to do? Anything?

McGahn was subpoenaed by Nadler last month and, under instruction by the White House, failed to meet an initial deadline to appear before the committee. Nadler threatened to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress if he did not meet a second deadline of 21 May.

So do it. Don’t threaten; do it.

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard, tweeted on Monday: “This WH position can’t POSSIBLY be the law when the House is exercising its power to investigate whether the president has committed impeachable offenses. The OLC [Office of Legal Counsel]/ Cipollone view would rip the Impeachment Power root and branch out of the Constitution.”

And the Dems will just stand around and watch, looking pained.

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