SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
President Donald Trump's legal team may assert executive privilege in an effort to block the public release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report detailing his findings on the Russia investigation. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
With Mueller Report Expected Soon, Trump Team May Claim Executive Privilege to Block Public Release
While critics called such a move "absurd," they also warned it could tie up the special counsel's report in court for months or even years
Jan 06, 2019
With Special Counsel Robert Mueller expected to put out a report detailing his findings from the ongoing probe into alleged Russian election interference and any collusion or obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump's campaign or administration as early as next month, the president's legal team may move to block parts of it from Congress and the public on the grounds of executive privilege.
In a report published Monday by Bloomberg News, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said that in terms of asserting executive privilege, "We will look at it and see if the president thinks there is a valid claim and if there is, do we want to make it." He added: "We reserve the right. We don't know if we have to, but we haven't waived it."
Giuliani also confirmed that the president's legal team is willing to go to court over any parts of the report Trump believes should be withheld. Such a battle, should one occur, is expected to advance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"This is a real threat," responded Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent. "It's another reason Dems taking the House was so important," given that they "can subpoena the findings, and they'd probably prevail in court."
While the Democrats who took control of the U.S. House last week plan to demand access to the report and fight to publicly release it, the regulation authorizing a special counsel does not require that Mueller disclose his findings to federal lawmakers or the public.
However, in the event of Trump trying to use executive privilege, former President Richard Nixon's White House counsel John Dean noted that federal lawmakers could call Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill, and "Trump can't stop Mueller from going to Congress and talking about everything that's in his report."
Although Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, posited that any effort by Trump's team to block the disclosure of Mueller's findings "will not hold up in court" because "executive privilege can always be pierced by a specific and legitimate criminal or congressional inquiry," as Bloomberg explained:
The White House voluntarily turned over tens of thousands of pages of records to Mueller's investigators, avoiding a subpoena fight with the special prosecutor.
The lawyers believe that preserved the president's option to assert later that the information can't be shared outside of the executive branch. Had Mueller subpoenaed the documents and won, the White House would have lost the ability to block their public release.
Dean called claiming executive privilege after turning over documents "absurd," but he also warned that the "stalling tactic" could "tie it up in the lower courts for a couple of years."
Trump and his attorneys aren't the only barriers to publicly revealing Mueller's findings though. Intelligence agencies will likely move to redact certain classified information included in it, Bloomberg pointed out, and "Justice Department lawyers also are required to withhold information that pertains to grand jury proceedings or ongoing sensitive law enforcement operations."
The president's legal team, meanwhile, is supposedly working on its own report "to counter any findings that paint Trump in a negative light."
Mueller, for his part, is still receiving information regarding the probe. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the new House Intelligence Committee chairman, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" on Sunday that he hopes to turn over the panel's interviews quickly, pointing to concerns about potential perjury for "multiple witnesses," whom he declined to name.
"We hope, as one of our first acts, to make the transcripts of our witnesses fully available to special counsel for any purpose, including the bringing of perjury charges if necessary against any of the witnesses," Schiff said. "I think Bob Mueller, by virtue of the fact that he has been able to conduct this investigation using tools that we didn't have in our committee, meaning compulsion, is in a better position to determine, OK, who was telling the truth, who wasn't, and who could I make a case against in terms of perjury?"
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
With Special Counsel Robert Mueller expected to put out a report detailing his findings from the ongoing probe into alleged Russian election interference and any collusion or obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump's campaign or administration as early as next month, the president's legal team may move to block parts of it from Congress and the public on the grounds of executive privilege.
In a report published Monday by Bloomberg News, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said that in terms of asserting executive privilege, "We will look at it and see if the president thinks there is a valid claim and if there is, do we want to make it." He added: "We reserve the right. We don't know if we have to, but we haven't waived it."
Giuliani also confirmed that the president's legal team is willing to go to court over any parts of the report Trump believes should be withheld. Such a battle, should one occur, is expected to advance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"This is a real threat," responded Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent. "It's another reason Dems taking the House was so important," given that they "can subpoena the findings, and they'd probably prevail in court."
While the Democrats who took control of the U.S. House last week plan to demand access to the report and fight to publicly release it, the regulation authorizing a special counsel does not require that Mueller disclose his findings to federal lawmakers or the public.
However, in the event of Trump trying to use executive privilege, former President Richard Nixon's White House counsel John Dean noted that federal lawmakers could call Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill, and "Trump can't stop Mueller from going to Congress and talking about everything that's in his report."
Although Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, posited that any effort by Trump's team to block the disclosure of Mueller's findings "will not hold up in court" because "executive privilege can always be pierced by a specific and legitimate criminal or congressional inquiry," as Bloomberg explained:
The White House voluntarily turned over tens of thousands of pages of records to Mueller's investigators, avoiding a subpoena fight with the special prosecutor.
The lawyers believe that preserved the president's option to assert later that the information can't be shared outside of the executive branch. Had Mueller subpoenaed the documents and won, the White House would have lost the ability to block their public release.
Dean called claiming executive privilege after turning over documents "absurd," but he also warned that the "stalling tactic" could "tie it up in the lower courts for a couple of years."
Trump and his attorneys aren't the only barriers to publicly revealing Mueller's findings though. Intelligence agencies will likely move to redact certain classified information included in it, Bloomberg pointed out, and "Justice Department lawyers also are required to withhold information that pertains to grand jury proceedings or ongoing sensitive law enforcement operations."
The president's legal team, meanwhile, is supposedly working on its own report "to counter any findings that paint Trump in a negative light."
Mueller, for his part, is still receiving information regarding the probe. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the new House Intelligence Committee chairman, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" on Sunday that he hopes to turn over the panel's interviews quickly, pointing to concerns about potential perjury for "multiple witnesses," whom he declined to name.
"We hope, as one of our first acts, to make the transcripts of our witnesses fully available to special counsel for any purpose, including the bringing of perjury charges if necessary against any of the witnesses," Schiff said. "I think Bob Mueller, by virtue of the fact that he has been able to conduct this investigation using tools that we didn't have in our committee, meaning compulsion, is in a better position to determine, OK, who was telling the truth, who wasn't, and who could I make a case against in terms of perjury?"
With Special Counsel Robert Mueller expected to put out a report detailing his findings from the ongoing probe into alleged Russian election interference and any collusion or obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump's campaign or administration as early as next month, the president's legal team may move to block parts of it from Congress and the public on the grounds of executive privilege.
In a report published Monday by Bloomberg News, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said that in terms of asserting executive privilege, "We will look at it and see if the president thinks there is a valid claim and if there is, do we want to make it." He added: "We reserve the right. We don't know if we have to, but we haven't waived it."
Giuliani also confirmed that the president's legal team is willing to go to court over any parts of the report Trump believes should be withheld. Such a battle, should one occur, is expected to advance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"This is a real threat," responded Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent. "It's another reason Dems taking the House was so important," given that they "can subpoena the findings, and they'd probably prevail in court."
While the Democrats who took control of the U.S. House last week plan to demand access to the report and fight to publicly release it, the regulation authorizing a special counsel does not require that Mueller disclose his findings to federal lawmakers or the public.
However, in the event of Trump trying to use executive privilege, former President Richard Nixon's White House counsel John Dean noted that federal lawmakers could call Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill, and "Trump can't stop Mueller from going to Congress and talking about everything that's in his report."
Although Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, posited that any effort by Trump's team to block the disclosure of Mueller's findings "will not hold up in court" because "executive privilege can always be pierced by a specific and legitimate criminal or congressional inquiry," as Bloomberg explained:
The White House voluntarily turned over tens of thousands of pages of records to Mueller's investigators, avoiding a subpoena fight with the special prosecutor.
The lawyers believe that preserved the president's option to assert later that the information can't be shared outside of the executive branch. Had Mueller subpoenaed the documents and won, the White House would have lost the ability to block their public release.
Dean called claiming executive privilege after turning over documents "absurd," but he also warned that the "stalling tactic" could "tie it up in the lower courts for a couple of years."
Trump and his attorneys aren't the only barriers to publicly revealing Mueller's findings though. Intelligence agencies will likely move to redact certain classified information included in it, Bloomberg pointed out, and "Justice Department lawyers also are required to withhold information that pertains to grand jury proceedings or ongoing sensitive law enforcement operations."
The president's legal team, meanwhile, is supposedly working on its own report "to counter any findings that paint Trump in a negative light."
Mueller, for his part, is still receiving information regarding the probe. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the new House Intelligence Committee chairman, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" on Sunday that he hopes to turn over the panel's interviews quickly, pointing to concerns about potential perjury for "multiple witnesses," whom he declined to name.
"We hope, as one of our first acts, to make the transcripts of our witnesses fully available to special counsel for any purpose, including the bringing of perjury charges if necessary against any of the witnesses," Schiff said. "I think Bob Mueller, by virtue of the fact that he has been able to conduct this investigation using tools that we didn't have in our committee, meaning compulsion, is in a better position to determine, OK, who was telling the truth, who wasn't, and who could I make a case against in terms of perjury?"
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.