Trump turns to appeals court to stop Mark Meadows testimony before grand jury
Kaelan Deese
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Former President Donald Trump filed an appeal Tuesday to block grand jury testimony from several former White House advisers, including Mark Meadows, for an investigation into 2020 general election subversion efforts.
U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, whose tenure recently ended in the District of Columbia Court, denied Trump’s bid earlier this month to thwart efforts by special counsel Jack Smith’s office to question former Trump administration officials. Her March 15 order is under seal, though sources previously informed several news outlets about the nature of her ruling.
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On Wednesday, an appeal of the sealed decision that links back to the district court case appeared on the docket for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, was named along with aides Nick Luna, John McEntee, and former Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli in Howell’s order, sources told ABC News. Other notable figures named include former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, former top aide Stephen Miller, and former deputy chief of staff and social media director Dan Scavino, according to the sources.
Howell’s order rejected Trump’s executive privilege claim over the former advisers’ testimony, according to sources with information about the decision.
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Courts recently rejected Trump’s challenge to a subpoena issued to his attorney Evan Corcoran and rejected in part an executive privilege challenge to demand testimony leading up to the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol from former Vice President Mike Pence, who can still appeal the ruling.
It was not immediately clear which judges on the District of Columbia Circuit would take up Trump’s appeal.