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\"The Department of Justice has provided a legal opinion stating that, based on long-standing, bipartisan, and Constitutional precedent, the former Counsel to the President cannot be forced to give such testimony, and Mr. McGahn has been directed to act accordingly. This action has been taken in order to ensure that future Presidents can effectively execute the responsibilities of the Office of the Presidency,\" press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

\"The Democrats do not like the conclusion of the Mueller investigation -- no collusion, no conspiracy, and no obstruction -- and want a wasteful and unnecessary do-over,\" she said.

JusticeMemo-McGaghn by ABC News Politics on Scribd

Nadler rejected those arguments.

\"This move is just the latest act of obstruction from the White House that includes its blanket refusal to cooperate with this Committee,\" his statement continued. \"It is also the latest example of this Administration's disdain for law. This identical approach was rejected by a federal court in the Miers case, which held that even senior advisers to the President cannot simply refuse to appear in response to a congressional subpoena.

\"It is absurd for President Trump to claim privilege as to this witness's testimony when that testimony was already described publicly in the Mueller Report. Even more ridiculous is the extension of the privilege to cover events before and after Mr. McGahn's service in the White House,\" Nadler said.

Earlier this month, the White House instructed McGahn not to comply with a subpoena from House Democrats for documents related to Mueller's investigation.

Cipollone argued at the time that \"McGahn does not have the legal right to disclose these documents to third parties\" and asked that instead of directing requests for documents to McGahn's attorney, the committee direct the requests to the White House.

McGahn was a central figure in the Mueller report and cooperated extensively with the special counsel's probe. He met with Mueller's team multiple times for more than 30 hours and questioned more extensively than any other member of the White House staff who went in for an interview.

\"PHOTO:
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
PHOTO: White House Counsel Don McGahn listens during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sept. 4, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
>

\"Mr. McGahn is a critical witness to many of the alleged instances of obstruction of justice and other misconduct described in the Mueller report,\" Nadler wrote last month in a press release accompanying his subpoena request. \"His testimony will help shed further light on the President's attacks on the rule of law, and his attempts to cover up those actions by lying to the American people and requesting others do the same.\"

Mueller had requested to speak with McGahn about the circumstances surrounding former FBI Director James Comey's firing and his reported involvement in the events surrounding Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusing himself from the Russia investigation, the sources said.

ABC News previously reported that McGahn was among the White House staffers who were against any notion of Trump's firing of Mueller last June when the president wanted to do just that, a source said.

After news broke that Trump ordered McGahn to fire the special counsel, Trump pressured McGahn to deny that he had been directed to do so, even suggesting to aides that he would fire him unless he complied.

Mueller concluded that there is evidence to suggest Trump acted this way to impede his investigation, according to the special counsel's report.

Mueller concluded that \"Substantial evidence indicates that in repeatedly urging McGahn to dispute that he was ordered to have the Special Counsel terminated, the President acted for the purpose of influencing McGahn's account in order to deflect or prevent further scrutiny of the President's conduct towards the investigation.\"

There is precedent for past administrations to declare immunity from congressional testimony based on an Office of Legal Counsel opinion. For example, in 2014, the Obama administration blocked senior adviser and director of the White House Office of Political Strategy, David Simas, from testifying before the House Oversight Committee.

ABC News' Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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