Well, after Bloomberg reported that The Trump White House was mulling invoking executive privilege to block the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, The New York Times reported last night that such a course of action was not being considered (via NYT):
President Trump does not plan to invoke executive privilege to try to prevent James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, from providing potentially damaging testimony to Congress on statements the president made about an investigation into his former national security adviser, two senior administration officials said Friday.
Mr. Trump could still move to block the testimony next week, given his history of changing his mind at the last minute about major decisions. But legal experts have said that Mr. Trump has a weak case to invoke executive privilege because he has publicly addressed his conversations with Mr. Comey, and any such move could carry serious political risks.
This executive privilege talk comes after the Senate Intelligence Committee slated Mr. Comey to testify on Russian interference activities next week. Yet, we also know that questions concerning his conversations with President Trump over the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will be on the docket. President Trump fired Mr. Comey earlier this month. After reports that a memo was drafted by the former FBI director detailing ways in which the president improperly tried to influence the ongoing investigation into Flynn for his interactions with the Russians, Democrats screamed obstruction of justice. That remains to be seen, and we still haven’t seen the contents of the memo—though Fox News has confirmed its existence.
Recommended
Mr. Comey is expected to appear before the committee on June 8.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member