According to a report at Politico, the White House's use of a lawyer to stand by and block any Congressional lawmaker questions posed to former Donald Trump aide Hope Hicks ended up giving investigating Democrats the reason they were looking for to skip playing nice with ex-Trump officials and head straight to the courts with an ironclad case.
In an interview with the Politico, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said Hicks refusal to answer -- and the White House's obstruction -- is the smoking gun that Democrats will use to get a judge to compel former Trump counsel Don McGahn to answer questions when called.
“It very much played into our hands,” Nadler claimed on Thursday. “It’s one thing to tell a judge blanket immunity is not a right thing. It’s another thing when a judge can see what that means in actuality, and how absurd it is.”
According to the top Democrat, he is working with House counsel to draft a lawsuit that will drag McGahn into court in the belief that after a judge rules against McGahn on executive privilege, other aides to the president will have no legal standing to ignore subpoenas.
Nadler also noted that Hicks could be called back and be forced to answer the 155 questions she ducked in a closed-door hearing.
“That court case is key to everything,” Nadler explained. “[Hicks] will be forthcoming only under legal compulsion.”
Nadler also pointed out that he and other Democrats were well aware of what Hicks would do -- and that was part of the plan.
“I understand, obviously, there are people in the press, in Congress and elsewhere saying, ‘Why’d they waste their time with that? What was the point? What’d they accomplish?’” Nadler explained. “We knew this was going to happen. The point of it was to dramatize for the court what the implications of this are.”
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