Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, attends a news conference with 10 other Republican members of Congress announcing their introduction of a U.S. House resolution alleging misconduct in the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation and requesting the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the law enforcement probes into the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis
Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, and two other Trump aides will defy subpoenas from the 1/6 Committee, even as Trump’s own lawyer doubts the strength of his executive privilege claim.
But increasingly concerned with the far-reaching nature of the 6 January investigation, Trump and his legal team, led by the ex-Trump campaign lawyer Justin Clark the former deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin, are moving to instruct the attorneys for the subpoenaed aides to defy the orders.
The basis for Trump’s pressing aides to not cooperate is being mounted on grounds of executive privilege, the source said, over claims that sensitive conversations about what he knew in advance of plans to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory should remain secret.
Philbin appears less convinced than Trump about the strength of the legal argument, the source said, in part because the justice department previously declined to assert the protection for 6 January testimony, suggesting it did not exist to protect Trump’s personal interests.
The 1/6 Committee will pursue criminal charges if the witnesses do not show up to testify. Trump’s executive privilege claim is bogus. It appears that the only hope for Trump’s accomplices is to drag this matter out in court for the next roughly fifteen months and pray that Republicans take back the House and the investigation goes away.
The 1/6 Committee and most legal experts agree with Trump’s lawyer. His claim of executive privilege is weak, as the privilege only exists for a president while they are in office. The presidency does not come with a lifetime executive privilege assertion.
Donald Trump is making up imaginary powers that he does not have, and anyone who is foolish enough to follow him down this path deserves to face criminal charges.
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