saying this evening, john, that his client will not be participating, will not be testifying no matter what this ruling says. and so the white house is back to the trump administration, is back to where they've been in all of this, which is a position of stonewalling. >> it is interesting. don mcgahn's attorney specifically said that if it not stayed, he will testify. that's very specific language, and we'll talk about why that's significant because he could have said something else. we'll get to that in just a moment. what does this mean for the long list of other white house officials who have defied the subpoenas? >> reporter: i talked to a legal source very close to this case who said, listen, this absolutely applies to mick mulvaney and john bolton. this is the game that has been played throughout all of this. the white house has been gambling on one thing, and that is if they say no to these officials testifying up on capitol hill, that democrats will make the political calculus that they're not going to risk this dragging out in court for months and months and months because they don't want this dragging into the next general election cycle, which we're in