Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is asking for emergency help from the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, to block some of his closest advisers from testifying about him to a grand jury, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to a source familiar with the case and new court filings.
Trump’s team on Monday night asked for the appeals court to wipe away a lower court’s ruling that would force several of his top advisers to answer questions to a grand jury investigating Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, despite his claims of legal protections around his presidency that would shield some of their testimony.
Overnight, a panel of three judges on the appeals court – Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins and Greg Katsas – sought a response from the Justice Department regarding Trump’s request. The Justice Department responded about two hours later. With the filings now submitted by both sides, the appeals court could decide at any moment.
The case is sealed and Trump and the Justice Department are not named in the filings. The Biden administration has repeatedly declined to assert executive privilege for the presidency related to Trump’s actions around January 6, 2021, when issues like these came up in previous situations.
Other witnesses who may be affected by the ruling include Trump’s former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, former Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli and several Trump White House advisers such as Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino. CNN has confirmed some of the witnesses previously testified to the grand jury, but may have declined to answer some questions at Trump’s direction.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team is seeking grand jury testimony from these senior Trump…
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