Why Trump
stands behind Kavanaugh - obvious reason
(To protect
his backside)
Re: Mueller's
Russia investigation – these two questions keep coming up both closely related:
#1 Question: Whether or not Trump himself can
obstruct subpoenas or decline to answer Congress's questions by invoking executive
privilege — or if, by invoking
executive privilege, he can bar people like Sessions from testifying about
their conversations with him — is more complicated.
He, like all
presidents, enjoys a presumption of confidentiality.
However, the
Washington Post’s revelation that Trump himself is under
investigation for obstruction of justice suggests a
very similar situation we saw Nixon in (cite: United States v. Nixon).
If Trump
were to fail to obey subpoenas from special counsel Robert Mueller, then it’s
likely that courts would obey the Nixon precedent and require him to
comply, on the grounds that rule has preference over his executive privilege.
The
possibility of Trump not complying with a congressional investigation raises
further questions. Failure to comply with congressional subpoenas further
implicates “Congress’s constitutional power of inquiry through investigatory
bodies” and courts could decide that Congress’s constitutional obligation
overrides Trump’s presumptive right to confidentiality.
In fact, one
district court has already ruled that Congress’s investigatory powers
trump executive privilege in cases like this. Cite: Committee on the Judiciary v. Miers, wherein the George
W. Bush administration was using executive privilege to try to block a subpoena
by former House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-MI) for testimony by former
White House counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten.
#2 Question: Related to Trump lies – always front
and center: Can he limit the scope of FBI investigation?
The FBI
reportedly also isn’t able to look into why Kavanaugh’s account of his drinking
at Yale differs from what former classmates say. Kavanaugh claims he wasn’t a
heavy drinker, others say he was.
Both Ford
and Ramirez claim he was excessively drunk during the two incidents. White
House counsel Don McGahn is taking the lead on the White House’s dealings with
the FBI investigation into Kavanaugh.
Trump says the NBC News report isn’t true: He just refuted
the NBC News reporting, saying he wants the bureau to “…interview whoever they
deem appropriate, at their discretion.”
Earlier, Trump said to reporters said that he would defer to the
Senate on how Kavanaugh’s nomination will play out, adding: “I’m going to
let the Senate handle that, they’ll make their decisions.”
Then White
House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement to the WSJ that the “scope of duration of the
investigation has been set by the Senate, and the administration was letting
the FBI agents do what they are trained to do.”
My 2
cents:
So, we are left to ask
and wonder in all cases about Trump: Who is telling the truth, and what is the
real story?
Believing anything Trump says is one huge gigantic
leap of faith.
Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.
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