While preparations continue for President Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the House is not finished investigating Trump, and according to Business Insider, there is a possibility that Democrats could consider more articles of impeachment down the line.
One of the most likely avenues to this comes from the battle to compel testimony from former White House Counsel Don McGahn, which dramatically played out in a federal court on Monday.
Attorneys from Trump's Department of Justice argued that compelling testimony from McGahn would be an improper exercise of court power, because it would interfere with the impeachment proceedings — which, constitutionally, are the sole power of Congress.
Congressional lawyers, on the other hand, told the court that McGahn's testimony could be extremely relevant to further impeachment proceedings.
McGahn's testimony is "relevant to the Committee's ongoing investigations into Presidential misconduct and consideration of whether to recommend additional articles of impeachment," wrote the attorneys, adding that, "If McGahn's testimony produces new evidence supporting the conclusion that President Trump committed impeachable offenses that are not covered by the Articles approved by the House, the Committee will proceed accordingly — including, if necessary, by considering whether to recommend new articles of impeachment."
McGahn is heavily implicated in some of the most serious allegations of obstruction of justice outlined in former special counsel Robert Mueller's report. The report alleges that Trump ordered McGahn to fire Mueller, backing down only after McGahn said he would resign rather than carry out the directive — and furthermore, that after The New York Times exposed this incident in January 2018, Trump ordered McGahn to write a memo denying that any such incident occurred. McGahn's testimony on these matters would be compelling evidence for a third article of impeachment.
During the initial drafting, House Democrats decided against passing a third article of impeachment based on the Mueller report, as they lacked the votes to do so. But the evidence McGahn provides could theoretically create new pressure, and new support, for such an article — and both Trump and House Democrats know it.
