Trump's claim that the Mueller report is protected by executive privilege is hot garbage

[babylonsister]

https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-claim-mueller-report-protected-executive-privilege-c0fb9c533851/

Trump’s claim that the Mueller report is protected by executive privilege is hot garbage
He doesn't have a legal claim, but he can probably run out the clock.
Ian Millhiser
May 8, 2019, 2:04 pm


snip//

There is no one legal concept known as “executive privilege.” Instead, the courts recognize two distinct forms of privilege that a president might invoke. The seminal case describing these two forms of privilege is the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s decision in in re: Sealed Case — a case which is often referred to as the “Espy” case because it involved an independent counsel investigation into former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy.

The stronger of the two privileges is known as the “presidential communications privilege.” As a federal appeals court explained, this stronger privilege applies solely to communications that were either made directly to the president, or to communications “authored or solicited and received by those members of an immediate White House adviser’s staff who have broad and significant responsibility for investigating and formulating the advice to be given the President on the particular matter to which the communications relate.”

Moreover, the communications that the president seeks to shield must occur “in performance of [a president’s] responsibilities” and “in the process of shaping policies and making decisions.”

The Mueller report emphatically does not qualify for this presidential communications privilege. Not only was Mueller not providing advice to the president or to the president’s inner circle, but Mueller was in fact actively investigating the president. Mueller did not seek to shape Trump’s policies or decisions. If anything, Mueller was adverse to Trump throughout his investigation.

snip//

Trump, in other words, does not have to convince a court that his executive privilege claim is valid. He simply needs to convince the courts to sit on their hands.

[C_U_L8R]

1. He can obstruct right up to election day

And it will be a campaign issue that all Republicans will be mercilessly clobbered with. Truth hurts.

[asiliveandbreathe]

2. We need to own the airwaves...the message "the pos is a crook"....everyday and in everyway...

the days the pos owns the airwaves is coming to an end..

Conman, liar, cheat, downright crook!!!!!

[Gothmog]

3. If John Yoo thinks that these claims are garbage, then trump is in trouble

Link to tweet