(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Justice Department's appeal of a judge's order compelling former White House Counsel Don McGahn to comply with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena for his testimony is set to be heard in Washington on Jan. 3.
The federal appeals court in Washington, in an order issued Wednesday, put U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's ruling on hold while it considers the case.
House Democrats sued to force McGahn's testimony earlier this year after he failed to comply with a subpoena that required him to appear before the Judiciary Committee on May 21.
In a ruling on Monday, Jackson rejected the Trump administration's claim the lawyer was covered by broad presidential immunity. “Presidents are not kings,” Jackson wrote in her ruling.
The committee has sought McGahn's testimony since the close earlier this year of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Earlier: Ex-White House Counsel Ordered to Testify to House Panel
The request gained urgency with the House impeachment inquiry, which focuses on whether the president withheld nearly $400 million in foreign aid to Ukraine while awaiting that nation's willingness to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
McGahn resigned his White House post in October 2018.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Los Angeles at jschneider5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, John Harney, Chelsea Mes
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