The White House has used a similar argument to block testimony from former White House counsel Don McGhan and to limit the scope of former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks’ testimony before the panel in June.
(MORE: Former White House aide Hope Hicks’ testimony transcript released)
House Democrats have argued in a recent lawsuit filed to enforce McGhan’s subpoena that the “absolute immunity” argument has “no grounding in the Constitution, any statutes, or case law” and stating that the president cited “no legal authority” to instruct a private citizen, like McGhan or Porter, to defy a congressional subpoena.
The subpoena issued by the committee Monday requests that Porter appear before the committee for testimony on Sept. 17. The committee has already issued subpoenas to Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and Trump’s former White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Rick Dearborn, to appear for public testimony on the same day.
“These witnesses were all involved in President Trump’s extensive efforts to obstruct the Special Counsel’s investigation,” the committee said in a statement.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
