Comey one, Comey all
Pool / Getty
As it stands Friday, former FBI Director James Comey — you know, the one who got fired last month because he was a “nutjob” whose investigation into the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia was causing “pressure” — is scheduled to testify Thursday morning before the Senate Intelligence Committee, in both an open session and a closed session. [Reuters / Mark Hosenball and Warren Stroebel]
Comey won’t speak to investigators in the Russia probe, now led by independent counsel Robert Mueller, until after he’s testified publicly. But he and Mueller have met to go over the parameters of what he can say publicly without jeopardizing the investigation. [CNN / Eric Lichtblau]
High on the agenda — to the consternation of some Senate Republicans, like Lindsey Graham, who think that if President Trump isn’t himself suspected of contact with Russia, he should be kept out of it — is a reported memo Comey wrote at the FBI, in which he depicted a conversation with Trump in which Trump appeared to ask Comey to be lenient with ex-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn. [Washington Examiner / Todd Shepherd]
But here’s why this is all “as it stands” — the Trump administration could try to intervene and prevent Comey from testifying, using the principle of executive privilege. [Reuters / Jan Wolfe]
In general, executive privilege doctrine means the president’s conversations with advisers are secret. [NYT / Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt]
But it’s usually used to prevent current officials from having to testify on things they don’t want to talk about — not to stop former officials, who want to testify, from doing so. [Eric Columbus via Twitter]
(There’s also something more than a little awkward about Trump claiming that his interactions with Comey were secret, when he’s been so loose-lipped about the Comey saga himself.)
Trump can’t just say “executive privilege” and make Comey disappear, either. If Comey doesn’t agree not to show up — and there’s no reason to think he would — Trump would have to get Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr, who invited Comey, to agree to uninvite him. Or he’d have to get a court order barring Comey from showing up, which would be an extremely eyebrow-raising move. [Lawfare / Kate Brannen and Andy Wright]
Even if he did manage to stop Comey from testifying before the Senate, he can’t really stop him from speaking to Mueller. If Trump isn’t just threatening to bar Comey from testifying because he hates it when other people get attention on television — if the president actually has something to hide — he’s only going to be able to delay it, not prevent it, from getting out there. [NYT / Charlie Savage]
www.fotavgeia.blogspot.com
Pool / Getty
As it stands Friday, former FBI Director James Comey — you know, the one who got fired last month because he was a “nutjob” whose investigation into the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia was causing “pressure” — is scheduled to testify Thursday morning before the Senate Intelligence Committee, in both an open session and a closed session. [Reuters / Mark Hosenball and Warren Stroebel]
Comey won’t speak to investigators in the Russia probe, now led by independent counsel Robert Mueller, until after he’s testified publicly. But he and Mueller have met to go over the parameters of what he can say publicly without jeopardizing the investigation. [CNN / Eric Lichtblau]
High on the agenda — to the consternation of some Senate Republicans, like Lindsey Graham, who think that if President Trump isn’t himself suspected of contact with Russia, he should be kept out of it — is a reported memo Comey wrote at the FBI, in which he depicted a conversation with Trump in which Trump appeared to ask Comey to be lenient with ex-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn. [Washington Examiner / Todd Shepherd]
But here’s why this is all “as it stands” — the Trump administration could try to intervene and prevent Comey from testifying, using the principle of executive privilege. [Reuters / Jan Wolfe]
In general, executive privilege doctrine means the president’s conversations with advisers are secret. [NYT / Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt]
But it’s usually used to prevent current officials from having to testify on things they don’t want to talk about — not to stop former officials, who want to testify, from doing so. [Eric Columbus via Twitter]
(There’s also something more than a little awkward about Trump claiming that his interactions with Comey were secret, when he’s been so loose-lipped about the Comey saga himself.)
Trump can’t just say “executive privilege” and make Comey disappear, either. If Comey doesn’t agree not to show up — and there’s no reason to think he would — Trump would have to get Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr, who invited Comey, to agree to uninvite him. Or he’d have to get a court order barring Comey from showing up, which would be an extremely eyebrow-raising move. [Lawfare / Kate Brannen and Andy Wright]
Even if he did manage to stop Comey from testifying before the Senate, he can’t really stop him from speaking to Mueller. If Trump isn’t just threatening to bar Comey from testifying because he hates it when other people get attention on television — if the president actually has something to hide — he’s only going to be able to delay it, not prevent it, from getting out there. [NYT / Charlie Savage]
www.fotavgeia.blogspot.com
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