Trump to decide whether to block Comey testimony: White House adviser
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[quote]U.S. President Donald Trump will decide whether to invoke his presidential powers to block former FBI Director James Comey from giving congressional testimony next week, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Friday.
Comey, fired by Trump last month, is due to testify on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee in both an open session and behind closed doors. The hearings could add to problems facing the president over probes into alleged Russian meddling in last year's U.S. election and potential collusion by his campaign.
In an interview with ABC News, Conway appeared to indicate that the president would allow Comey to testify, saying, "We'll be watching with the rest of the world when Director Comey testifies."
But asked directly whether Trump would use executive privilege to prevent Comey from speaking with lawmakers, Conway added: "The president will make that decision."[/quote]
[url=http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN18T1WZ]Reuters[/url]
Truly the actions of an innocent man
Increasingly nervous man digs his grave harder and faster while his frantic minions try to fill it up
Wait why does the President have the power to prevent someone from speaking to the Senate??
Go fuck yourself, Trump. You couldn't look anymore guilty than you are now.
[QUOTE=Selek;52304448]Wait why does the President have the power to prevent someone from speaking to the Senate??[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-factbox-idUSKBN18T1OB]Here's a related article from Reuters[/url] that describes executive privellege:
[quote][b]What is executive privilege?[/b]
Executive privilege is a legal doctrine that allows the president to withhold information from other government branches.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1974 in U.S. v Nixon that executive privilege can only be used in limited circumstances, such as protecting national security or preserving the confidentiality of sensitive communications within the executive branch.
...
[b]What are the odds that Trump would legally succeed in blocking Comey's testimony?[/b]
Legal experts said Trump would face an uphill climb if he asserted executive privilege to stop Comey from testifying before the congressional committee.
Trump likely would argue that Comey's testimony involves confidential conversations or matters of national security. But that claim would be undercut by the fact that the president has publicly discussed and tweeted about his conversations with Comey, said Rozell.
Trump faces another hurdle if he tries to block Comey's testimony. If Trump pressured Comey to drop the Flynn investigation, as Comey is expected to testify, then Trump may have engaged in obstruction of justice, according to some lawyers. Executive privilege cannot be used to "cover up government misconduct," said Andrew Wright, a professor at Savannah Law School.
...
[b]What are the political risks if Trump tries to assert privilege?[/b]
Trump would surely face public criticism if he tries to stop Comey's testimony, Rozell said. Critics could claim Trump is using privilege to thwart questions about potential ties between Russia and Flynn and Russia's alleged influence on the election. "That's the rub with executive privilege: It makes it look like you have something to hide," Rozell said.[/quote]
Literally the whole point of this article was a reporter bringing up a possibility and the adviser answering in the most neutral possible way (since Trump works on a whim anyway). This is someone saying "Trump will decide if he will block his testimony", this is someone asking "Will Trump try to block his testimony" and the reply being "I dunno lol".
Though I wouldn't be surprised if he did block it since he seems pretty consistent in making the worst possible decision on every single turn.
if he did try to block it and the whole point of Comey testifying is to say whether he believes whether or not there was some form of obstruction of justice, doesn't that just validate what Comey was saying even more?
[QUOTE=Ricenchicken;52304471]if he did try to block it and the whole point of Comey testifying is to say whether he believes whether or not there was some form of obstruction of justice, doesn't that just validate what Comey was saying even more?[/QUOTE]
(attempts to block evidence of obstruction with obstruction)
yeah i'd say so
I never thought I'd bear witness to such blatant abuse of power. I thought we were well beyond those days. Blocking Comey's testimony screams guilty in my book.
[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;52304516](attempts to block evidence of obstruction with obstruction)
yeah i'd say so[/QUOTE]
It's pretty hilarious if you think about it, a race between obstruction of justice and investigation into obstruction of justice. Ordinary citizen would be doomed to fail, but the president seems to have plenty of tools to succesfully obstruct the justice to keep the race interesting.
[QUOTE=Richardroth;52304520]I never thought I'd bear witness to such blatant abuse of power. I thought we were well beyond those days. Blocking Comey's testimony screams guilty in my book.[/QUOTE]
Even if the whole Russia thing is bunk Trump has shown a complete disregard for constitutional norms and checks and balances
[QUOTE=Murkrow;52304463]Though I wouldn't be surprised if he did block it since he seems pretty consistent in making the worst possible decision on every single turn.[/QUOTE]
"Trump's Decision Making Process", a short one act play.
[TRUMP walks in, stage left. Stops at mirror, regards himself.]
TRUMP: I'm Obama. I'm Obama. I'm Obama.
[TRUMP loosens up, shakes his arms and legs a bit]
TRUMP: Comey is about to testify. I could block him. What do I do?
TRUMP: What do I do...
TRUMP: [[I]in crude imitation of Obama's voice[/I]] In the spirit of American Justice, which I believe in bigly, I'm happy to hear Comey's remarks. He's got the best integrity, everybody says so. We'll walk down this road together--
[AIDE bursts in, frantic]
AIDE: Mr. President, if you're going to make an announcement it has to be now!
[TRUMP nods to himself, a grin slowly appearing]
TRUMP: Yeah, I got this.
[TRUMP exits, stage right, monologuing as he does]
TRUMP: I'm happy to announce that I will be employing executive privilege on this false testimony. It's time to move on from this Witch Hunt and get back to business...
-END-
Executive privilege should either be abolished or have the scope of what it covers narrowed down to very specific circumstances. I've only ever heard of it being used by politicians trying to cover their asses after something bad happens.
[QUOTE=AlbertWesker;52304681]Executive privilege should either be abolished or have the scope of what it covers narrowed down to very specific circumstances. I've only ever heard of it being used by politicians trying to cover their asses after something bad happens.[/QUOTE]
Most of the time it's used to prevent particular bits of information from causing harm as they're revealed. Obama used it with Fast & Furious for instance to block revealing how the department learned there were problems with it (presumably from intel sources that would be compromised and potentially put into life-threatening danger if that was revealed at that time).
But yes, it is also used in cases like this where it shouldn't.
[QUOTE=KillerJaguar;52304455][url=http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-factbox-idUSKBN18T1OB]Here's a related article from Reuters[/url] that describes executive privellege:[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Trump would surely face public criticism if he tries to stop Comey's testimony, Rozell said.[/QUOTE]
Yeah because that'll stop him.
[QUOTE=Firgof Umbra;52304697]Most of the time it's used to prevent particular bits of information from causing harm as they're revealed. Obama used it with Fast & Furious for instance to block revealing how the department learned there were problems with it (presumably from intel sources that would be compromised and potentially put into life-threatening danger if that was revealed at that time).
But yes, it is also used in cases like this where it shouldn't.[/QUOTE]
That's actually one of the worst possible examples it was used in like holy shit where do I even begin.
They just used executive privilege as a shield to protect Eric holder and the higher administrative officials of the ATF from prosecution/accountability so nobody was able to find out who was ultimately responsible for approving or planning that massive fuckup of an operation. In the end no one was really held accountable even though the head of the ATF eventually resigned (possibly due to public pressure) after the investigation had already reached a dead end.
Considering the department knew there were problems with the operation and several people blew the whistle on it and went public, there's no way they invoked executive privilege to protect assets on the field. Chances are the people actually doing the groundwork probably had no idea why they were letting people walk away with guns. In fact people who questioned it were told to basically "shut up and do what you're told".
Even if hypothetically the investigation were to reveal assets and cause them to be removed from the operation, it would still pale in comparison to the damage inflicted upon the Mexican civilians resulting from this gigantic fuckup of absolutely [I]biblical[/I] proportions.
yeah but if Trump actually did this all that would happen is a few media pieces and then dead silence. he can do whatever the fuck he wants and no one will hold him accountable.
The president has too much goddamned power in this country
[QUOTE=proboardslol;52305732]The president has too much goddamned power in this country[/QUOTE]
Brilliant, Trump's plan was to redpill us to conservatism us all along! 12D apples to apples
Update: [url=http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-testimony-idUSKBN18U0KS]Trump not planning to invoke executive privilege for Comey testimony[/url]
[QUOTE=proboardslol;52305732]The president has too much goddamned power in this country[/QUOTE]
Hey, If y'all want to subscribe to the idea that the federal government needs a major rollback in terms of power, we certainly welcome folks like that with open arms.
I don't care who holds the office. I've been saying this since Bush and Obama, and I will gladly support any cause that involves limiting the power of the federal government.
At this point I think Trump could literally kill a bound, kneeling person on national television via gunshot to the back of the head, and people would still find a way to defend it.
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