Analysis: Can Trump actually keep Don McGahn from testifying?
Don McGahn, then White House counsel, attends a Senate hearing in 2018. By Philip Bump Philip Bump National correspondent focused largely on the numbers behind politics Email Bio Follow May 3 at 10:32 AM Given his own characteristic style, it's not really clear how earnestly President Trump was suggesting that he'd try to block former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress.
We can certainly say that this exchange suggests Trump is not enthusiastic about McGahn testifying, for understandable reasons. McGahn’s interactions with Trump related to an effort to fire Mueller were a central part of Mueller’s consideration of obstruction of justice by the president. We need to first articulate what executive privilege is and isn't. It isn't a blanket, inviolate protection covering any interaction that takes place between the president and his staff. It is, instead, a concept established by the Supreme Court during the Nixon administration recognizing that certain internal executive branch communications should be allowed to be kept private.
“The issues that Congress wants to talk to Don McGahn about involve either no privilege or areas where privilege has already been waived,” she said at the time. “So I don’t anticipate that any assertions of privilege will be meaningful with respect to Don McGahn’s testimony.”"Once he was permitted to reveal the content of conversations about terminating Mueller in one context, there is no more claim of privilege in those conversations.
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