While Pelosi Touts McGahn Testimony As 'Victory for Democracy,' The Real Win Is Really Yet to Come

Former White House counsel pointed to new criminal exposure for himself, Trump

More than two years after being originally called to testify — and no longer protected by his former boss in the White House — Donald Trump's one-time White House counsel finally asceded to a congressional subpoena and appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.

Former White House counsel Don McGahn opened up and admitted that Trump lied to the public about the accuracy of the Mueller report, and admitted that he, McGahn, was the unnamed source for a media report about Trump's attempt to remove Robert Mueller as special counsel investigating Donald Trump and his administration.

The committee interviewed McGahn June 4 and released a transcript Wednesday.

Democratic leadership is hailing the recent testimony of former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn as a significant victory

That interview came some two years after the House first subpoenaed McGahn to testify. However, at the time, Trump blocked any of the then-current or former members of his administration from cooperating with Democratic House.

It may be two years later, but McGahn's final cooperation with the House subpoena — and his subsequent testimony — represents an important success, according to Pelosi and other members of Democratic leadership.

“The fact that McGahn testified is a victory for Democracy,” Pelosi said. “It is a resounding vindication of the House’s subpoena powers, which are a pillar of our system of checks of balances that ensure that Congress can pursue the truth for the American people.

“The truth is that Donald Trump was impeached for his egregious and unprecedented violations of our Constitution and our Democracy,” she added. "It is imperative that all administrations respect the Congress’s authority to conduct oversight and consider legislation on behalf of the American people, including its subpoena power.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) called the deferred interview for the new information it brought to light.

“Mr. McGahn provided the Committee with substantial new information—including firsthand accounts of President Trump’s increasingly out of control behavior, and insight into concerns that the former President’s conduct could expose both Trump and McGahn to criminal liability,” Nadler said.  “Mr. McGahn also confirmed that President Trump lied when he denied the accuracy of the Mueller report, and admitted that he was the source for a Washington Post report that confirmed Trump’s direction to McGahn to remove the Special Counsel.

“All told, Mr. McGahn’s testimony gives us a fresh look at how dangerously close President Trump brought us to, in Mr. McGahn’s words, the ‘point of no return,’” Nadler added.

However, while Pelosi and Nadler make entirely valid points that the McGahn session is an important step towards putting teeth back in congressional investigations and oversight — and in unearthing further evidence with which to bring Trump to justice, respectively — the fight for democracy is far from secured.

‘911 emergency’

Republicans continue to wage a concerted campaign against American democracy — and despite some positive rumblings — a meting-out of true justice for Trump has yet to materialize.

“Sisters and brothers, we are in a 911 emergency when, when it comes to our democracy. And it’s so important that we not miss this moment, that we miss to apprehend the gravity and the significance of what we will do in this moment,” freshman Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia said Wednesday during a rally. “I’ve only been in the Senate a little while, and I’ve already been there long enough to realize that is easy for folk who become a part of this institution to become cynical, to say that that we go and we debate various issues. And there’s a practical side, we debate certain things, we win some, we lose some, we come back to the next Congress.

"But let me be very clear: This is not just some ordinary moment. What they are trying to do try in Georgia and all across this country is to squeeze the voices of the people out of their democracy such that they can have minority rule, and we will not allow that to happen,” Warnock added.

One of the most serious challenges is that among those leading the battle against democracy remain a number of sitting Republican members of Congress who either backed the attempt to decertify Joe Biden's legitimate election as the next president of the United States on January 6, the violent insurrection at the Capitol which also occurred that day — or both, according to former FBI counterintelligence official Frank Figliuzzi.

“In order to really tackle terrorism, and this time domestically, you’ve got to attack and dismantle the command-and-control element of a terrorist group. And unfortunately, and I know this is painful to hear, that may mean people sitting in Congress right now, people in and around the former president,” he said, referring to Trump. “That’s how you do this. Otherwise recruitment, inciting, and cult-like leadership continues to recruit people to violence.”