Court says White House must comply with impeachment subpoenas

Donald Trump's top aides must comply with subpoenas to appear in the impeachment investigation against the president, a US appeals court judge ruled.

In a case involving former White House counsel Don McGahn, who was subpoenaed in May by the House Judiciary Committee, judge Ketanji Jackson ruled Monday that administration officials cannot claim absolute immunity from testifying based on their closeness to the US leader.

While Jackson ruled specifically on McGahn's case, she said it had broad application to all current and former presidential aides.

"Presidents are not kings," Jackson wrote in her decision.

"No one, not even the head of the Executive branch, is above the law."
"The witnesses who have defied Congress at the behest of the president will have to decide whether their duty is to the country, or to a president who believes that he is above the law."
"The administration's claim that officials can claim 'absolute immunity' from Congressional subpoenas has no basis in law, as the court recognised today."