Posted on 05/08/2019 9:16:19 AM PDT by Olog-hai
The White House invoked executive privilege Wednesday, claiming the right to block lawmakers from the full report from special counsel Robert Mueller on his Trump-Russia probe and escalating the battle between President Donald Trump and Congress.
The administration’s decision was announced just as the House Judiciary Committee was gaveling in to consider holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over failure to release the full report.
Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York declared the action by Trump’s Justice Department was a clear new sign of the president’s “blanket defiance” of Congress’ constitutional rights. “Every day we learn of new efforts by this administration to stonewall Congress,” Nadler said. “This is unprecedented.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the action was rather a response to the “blatant abuse of power” by Democratic Rep. Nadler.
“Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler’s unlawful and reckless demands,” she said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
This seems unnecessary. Aren’t some of the redactions required by law?
Was this necessary given that providing the FULL report is illegal...? Maybe it was.
He didn’t invoke privilege while he was being investigated.
I am not sure that was a good idea. I suspect the courts will rule against him. But maybe that’s what he wants. Playing the victim works well for Trump. The Dems don’t seem to have figured that out.
Will the Dems spin Exec. Privilege as an insidious form of White privilege? Asking for..well, you know.
Law? We don’t need no stinking law. We want to rule forever.
Hardly.
And I note the headline with privilege in quote. Like it's not a real thing. Like it's something the President just sort of made-up so that he could obstruct justice some more.
The only court that can rule against executive privilege is the Supreme court. Good luck.
Of course it’s illegal, that’s the whole point.
If Barr refused to comply, he gets charged with Contempt of Congress.
If he did comply, Democrats would have him impeached for illegally releasing Grand Jury info.
Classic trap ... until it gets to the courts
This is brilliant.
They’ve already been given all the rope they need.
Time to set the lines of battle.
Congress doesn't have "constitutional rights." It has constitutional authority.
One authority they don't have is the authority to make demands of executive branch officers -- especially a minor officer like Mueller who was never subject to Senate confirmation.
Excellent move by Trump. Screw you Democrats.
IMO invoking executive privilege is a very stupid move in this case. It enables the Dems and their Leftist media accomplices to now further claim a coverup, which too many not paying attention people would find plausable.
It should have just been blasted out that what the House Dems were demanding IS illegal.
The last thing the Democrats want is a court proceeding that's actually based on an objective analysis of the law instead of political hysterics.
According to Bongino, there are six (6) lines throughout the 100 page report that are redacted. So tell me....WTF is the problem?
Nadler forgets about Article 16.
The political optics was what prevented Trump from firing Mueller even though he had all the authority he needed to do so.
The President didn't invoke executive privilege here to keep the Democrats from seeing the full report. It was done to prevent Congress from demanding testimony from every member of the executive branch who ever had a conversation with Trump.
The report is 400+ pages, not 100.
We’ll see what the courts say.
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