The Trump team’s greatest weapon may also be prosecutors’ greatest fear: the ticking clock. (via Deadline: Legal Blog)
So it’s at least unclear whether a former president can claim the privilege, saying nothing of whether the claim would succeed. Plus, the Supreme Court appeal over then-President Richard Nixon’s attempt to avoid subpoena compliance shows that a vague privilege assertion won’t do, and can be overcome by a specific need for evidence.
And because there are multiple legal defense claims swirling around the various Trump probes, I should point out that this is separate from Pence’s. That’s the one in which Pence basically claims that, because the vice president also presides over the Senate, he should get to enjoy the same immunity that lawmakers have.
While that “speech or debate” claim is clearly an attempt to avoid having to testify under oath — as opposed to a principled stance on “separation of powers,” as Pence has claimed — it raises unsettled legal questions. So, if nothing else, it could take some time to litigate, perhaps more time than Trump’s weak argument for executive privilege.
Importantly, even if courts find that these two claims can be asserted, that doesn’t necessarily mean Pence’s grand jury testimony would be blocked completely. And relatedly, both claims underscore that the Trump team’s greatest weapon may also be prosecutors’ greatest fear: the ticking clock.Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and is the author of the forthcoming book “Bizarro” about the secret war on synthetic drugs.
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