A federal judge in Washington DC has rejected former president Donald Trump’s attempt to keep his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and a large group of other former top White House and Trump administration officials from having to give evidence before the grand jury investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
District Judge Beryl Howell, who until last week was the chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, issued a sealed ruling last week rejecting Mr Trump’s claim that executive privilege — a legal doctrine that normally shields conversations and deliberations between and among a president and his advisers — should preclude Mr Meadows and other aides from testifying.
Under longstanding legal precedents, a president’s claim of executive privilege must give way to the need for authorities to gather information in the course of criminal investigations.
Judge Howell’s ruling, which was first reported by ABC News, also applies to ex-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, former White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, and ex-deputy White House chief of staff and social media director Dan Scavino.
ABC also reported that ex-Trump aides Nick Luna and John McEntee, as well as former DHS official Ken Cuccinelli, were covered by Judge Howell’s order.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the twice-impeached ex-president accused the Department of Justice of “continuously stepping far outside the standard norms in attempting to destroy the long accepted, long held, Constitutionally based standards of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege”.
"There is no factual or legal basis or substance to any case against President Trump. The deranged Democrats and their comrades in the mainstream media are corrupting the legal process and weaponizing the justice system in order to manipulate public opinion, because they are clearly losing the political battle,” the spokesperson added.
