Democrats are facing another brazen attempt by Donald Trump to stonewall their investigations, this time with former White House counsel Donald McGahn defying a subpoena to appear before Congress on Tuesday, on orders from the White House.

Trump blocked McGahn from testifying before Congress about the special counsel’s report on Russian election interference, prompting sharp criticism and fresh threats of impeachment. A lawyer for McGahn said he would follow the president’s directive and skip the House judiciary hearing he had been summoned to testify before on Tuesday morning, leaving the Democrats without yet another witness – and a growing debate within the party about how to respond.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, backed by House judiciary committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, is taking a step-by-step approach to the confrontations with Trump. Nadler said the committee would vote to hold McGahn in contempt, and take the issue to court. (Theguardian)…[+]