in a Politico story. It wouldn’t even have occurred to me to ask if Trump would block testimony (good thing I’m not a reporter, I guess). I admit, I still can’t even see Trump making the attempt. It would just look so bad (though that hasn’t stopped him in the past). And I’d have thought he’d have said so as soon as it was announced if he planned to do so. So I don’t think it’ll happen.
But I sort of wonder why Conway didn’t say “no, he won’t” - but then, it’s in some ways safer not to commit to any course of action until you have to, especially with Trump being the type to contradict what his staff has previously said.
I agree that it would be a bad move for Trump to assert executive privilege, as it would simply be more evidence that he’s trying to obstruct justice. A more effective strategy would be to lean on some of the more Trump-friendly Committee members to make Comey look bad and attack his credibility. Then people throw their hands up and say “I guess we’ll never know the truth.” That’s how authoritarians gain more power – convincing people that the truth will never be known and that they’re not really seeing what they think they are.
Since Comey isn’t an employee of the executive branch anymore, Trump’s only way of attempting a legally enforceable method of blocking Comey’s testimony would be through seeking a court injunction against Comey testifying. There isn’t much time to do this before the scheduled hearing. Given the focus of the hearing is on Russian election-related hacking and any possible (criminal) collusion or other attempts at obstructing any Russian-related investigation and there is no way of knowing what questions might be asked before-hand, it appears unlikely any court would go along with some sweeping executive privilege argument that would cover any and every possible question Comey might be asked.
"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. …’
Even Trump wouldn’t be dumb enough to do this…would he?
Never underestimate the power of unbridled stupidity.
That being said, if he tries to do this, good fucking luck to him. Congress has plenary authority to compel anyone, including the President, to testify before it, and invoking executive privilege to stop it. Even Reagan didn’t get away with that shit, and Trump is no Reagan. Hell, Trump is no Warren Harding. He’s a blow-up sex toy for cartoon Troll fetishists.
The minute Trump is under oath and opens his mouth, it’s all over for Trump. He will not be able to refrain from lying under oath.
Ryan and McConnell know this. As long as they continue to believe that keeping Trump in place is the best way of getting their legislative agenda through, they will do anything and everything they can to prevent attempts to put Trump under oath.
It wouldn’t matter if 70% of Americans were on record as wanting Trump to testify–for fear of that other 30%, Ryan and McConnell will block calls to have Trump testify.
Ryan wouldn’t allow a vote for impeachment, and McConnell wouldn’t allow a vote for conviction even if Trump were caught barbecuing their children for a cookout with Putin. And neither of them, nor anyone in the GOP, wants Trump speaking under oath, or indeed, at all if they could help it. They’re all just hoping Trump resigns or dies so Mike Pence can take over and take the fundamentalist conservative agenda to the next circle of Dante’s Hell.
Meanwhile, I’m hoping that Comey has some very good security watching out for him. There are a lot of people with a lot of big money riding on Trump remaining free from calls to testify.
I don’t think any Congress critters have publicly called on Trump to testify in any Congressional hearing so far. Even if Trump were impeached, there wouldn’t be any expectation he would testify in the Senate trial.
Trump has already been deposed under oath at least a dozen or more times. His standard reply to questions he doesn’t want to answer is “I don’t know/I don’t recall.”
All true; what I was thinking of was the effect of Comey’s testimony. I’m guessing that even some Trump fans will be calling for their guy to come testify and ‘show up that traitor [Comey] as a liar.’ In other words, I’m anticipating that one effect of next Thursday’s events will be calls for Trump to testify.
As you mention, he’s long relied on “I don’t know/I don’t recall.” A couple of hours of that will be the opposite of thrilling for his base–they want him to speak out forcefully and with his words destroy Comey et al. They won’t get that. And that will erode (even if only in small increments) his support.
I’ve never seen anything this blatant before in my life. They’ve got all they need to impeach him and they’d better do it by the end of the year or else they deserve what will happen to them.
I’m not saying Trump won’t block Comey – he very well could. I’m just saying that there’s probably a better, easier way out of this than using blunt force. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Senators are talking to the WH right now and working this out behind the scenes. Comey has a hand to play against Trump, but Trump’s enablers in the Senate have a hand to play of their own. Lindsey Graham may have tipped that hand last week when he described Comey’s misuse of a purported fake email that falsely suggested connections between members of Clinton and the Democratic party colluding with each other to obstruct the bureau’s investigation of Clinton.
If Trump-friendly senators can make Comey look bad, they could potentially sow serious doubts about the quality and even the fairness of the investigation. If nothing else, it would leave people wondering whether the truth will ever be known. That, in turn, would potentially stymie Mueller’s investigation, which is really the important fact finding mission that’s happening right now. If the public begins to doubt that truth can be ascertained, then the public might begin to tire of investigations of any kind. This would also strengthen the hand of the president.
I don’t think it’s hyperbole to suggest that next Thursday could be a tipping point moment. But that’s only if Trump has the discipline to allow the process to move ahead. If Trump stops that process, then it just leaves more questions and raises the stakes, putting even more pressure on Trump AND the entire GOP. My guess is Trump will let it go ahead and try to frame Comey’s testimony in advance with a sophisticated misinformation campaign.
He can’t block Comey. Executive privilege can be used to shield administration officials who are already not inclined to talk, but they can no more prevent Comey from testifying than the Bush administration could stop a dozen former officials from writing tell all books. As long as there is no classified info in Comey’s testimony(and even that can be revealed to certain Congressmen), then he can’t be stopped. Even if the Trump administration tries to stretch executive privilege that far, how in practice do they stop Comey from testifying?
Undermining Comey’s credibility only delays the inevitable. The investigation will continue regardless of what he says or the reaction to it. It’s the investigation that will bring down this criminal enterprise masquerading as an administration. If I’m a Republican, I’d prefer to lance the boil quickly, impeach that con man and try to salvage the 2018 and 2020 elections.
You dont even need an investigation. Trump admitted he fired Comey over the Russia investigation. Not only did Trump fire Comey without cause(FBI directors can only be fired for cause), he lied about an official act. Then admitted he lied. That’s a confession. They can impeach right now.
I agree. But you need more to generate a tidal wave so large that Republicans cannot ignore it. Right now, their base is perfectly happy with a criminal in the White House. When the full extent of the corruption and wanton disregard for the law comes to light, hopefully even a majority of Republicans will impeach and convict.
I fully support your view- he confessed to obstruction of justice. If congressional Republicans had the nation’s interest at heart, he would be gone by now. But they don’t and he isn’t.